Analysis of Industry 4.0 and circular economy enablers: A step towards resilient sustainable operations management

Abstract

Originating in Germany, Industry 4.0 quickly became the new standard with industries adopting it worldwide. However, in the hurry to become digitalized for increasing production and efficiency, industries have failed at embracing the sustainability aspect of production. With the rise in concern for environmental safety and the re-introduction of circular economy, the authors have identified the integration of I4.0 and CE as a strong research point for overcoming the obstacles in achieving sustainable operations management (SOM). The research explains the criticality of the integration of I4.0 and CE and how it is the next step in becoming sustainable and resilient in today's turbulent environment. The study incorporates a four-step hybrid methodology with the identification and validation of enablers as the first phase using the PRISMA statement and PF-Delphi technique respectively. The second phase employs the PF-AHP technique for calculating the criteria weights which are subsequently used in the third phase by applying PF-CoCoSo to rank the enablers in priority order. Lastly, sensitivity analysis is performed to check the robustness of the results. The paper identified service and policy framework as the most critical criteria and product lifecycle management as the highest priority enabler for achieving SOM. The authors have also put forward seven recommendations for industries looking to implement I4.0 and CE for SOM by taking instances from previous case studies.