Application of Industry 4.0 Methods in Russian Industrial Companies: A Qualitative Approach

Abstract

For the past 10 years implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies and methods at manufacturing companies has shown a dynamic growth. Russian companies are significantly behind the leading countries in terms of speed and mass application of these methods. At the same time, there are some companies in Russia that have been already actively using methods and technologies of Industry 4.0 for several years. Paper focuses on the study of their experience in Industry 4.0 methods implementation. It is a high-quality descriptive study of application the Industry 4.0 methods in 9 large industrial Russian companies. The authors used secondary sources, namely: interviews with managers and project managers, conferences and exhibitions speeches, press releases, information presented on corporate websites. Using the Grounded Theory methodology, and the open coding procedure, the authors propose their own organizational model of significant factors affecting the realization of projects of Industry 4.0 methods implementation. Further, based on qualitative analysis of the available secondary data sources, conclusions are drawn regarding the patterns and features of the implementation of production digitalization methods, as well as assumptions are made about the prospects for using some Industry 4.0 methods in Russian companies.