Abstract
The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) may fundamentally alter, not only the way people work but also, how Small and Medium (SME) manufacturing businesses operate. In the manufacturing sector, the 4IR may change the design; manufacturing; operations; services, products, and production systems; connectivity; and the interaction among parts, machines, and people. While the 4IR technologies may have many benefits, owing to innovation and technological progress, the manufacturing SMEs require their challenges to be addressed before they may benefit from 4IR technologies. To the best of the knowledge of the researchers, there is no conceptual 4IR manufacturing framework, specifically for a developing economy, which is necessary for addressing these challenges and the opportunities promised by the new industry. This research, therefore, intends to fill this gap by developing a conceptual 4IR framework to assist South African manufacturing SMEs in addressing some of these challenges. Following a comprehensive literature review, components of the 4IR and challenges in the manufacturing industry are elucidated, aimed at defining a set of qualitative propositions as our instrument to develop a conceptual framework for embedding 4IR technologies and opportunities in the manufacturing industry. Further aspects of the framework enable businesses to gain a competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. Future work in this area will validate the framework among stakeholders in the manufacturing industry within the context of a developing economy.
Highlights
The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is set to disrupt numerous aspects of our technological society, for example, the manufacturing industry for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a developing economy such as South Africa
This research aims to investigate the components of the 4IR concerning its influence on manufacturing SMEs, and to develop sets of qualitative propositions emanating from our analyses and, on the strength of these propositions, to develop a conceptual framework for embedding 4IR and related aspects in manufacturing SMEs in the context of a developing economy, in order to a gain competitive advantage and sustainable business performance
In addition to the numerous content propositions in the entities in the tables, we identified a number of implicit primary associations among the Figure 2 entities as indicated by the connecting lines
Summary
The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is set to disrupt numerous aspects of our technological society, for example, the manufacturing industry for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a developing economy such as South Africa. SMEs to gain a competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. The 4IR is known as Industry 4.0 (I4.0), which is essentially changing how humans relate, live, and work [1]. Several writers concur with Schwab on the impact of the fourth industrial revolution phenomenon on SME businesses [2,3,4,5]. Schwab advises that businesses should respond to it in a coordinated and thorough way, involving all partners globally, from private and public industries to the academic world and the public at large.
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