A Critical Review of Smart Manufacturing & Industry 4.0 Maturity Models: Applicability in the O&G Upstream Industry

Abstract

The shift towards Industry 4.0 is a fundamental driver of improved changes observed in today’s business organizations. The difficulties in adapting to this new approach pose challenges for many companies especially in the oil and gas (O&G) upstream sector. To make this path much feasible for companies in this industry, Maturity Models (MMs) are very useful tools in achieving this following their use in evaluation of the initial state of a company for planned development journey towards Industry 4.0 (I4.0) readiness and implementation. Study shows that only a limited number of O&G specific roadmaps, MMs, frameworks and readiness assessments are available today. This paper aims to review the currently available Industry 4.0 MMs for manufacturing industries and analyze their applicability in the O&G upstream sector using the systematic literature review (SLR) methodology, recognizing the specific requirements of this industry. The study looks at the key characteristic for O&G sector in relation to the manufacturing sector and identifies research gaps needed to be addressed to successfully support the O&G sector in readiness for Industry 4.0 implementation. An Industry 4.0 maturity model that reflects the industrial realities for the O&G upstream sector more accurately from insights drawn from the reviews of existing MMs is proposed. This reduces the challenges of the transition process towards Industry 4.0 and provides support for the critical change desired for improved efficiency in the sector.