Abstract

The digital transformation of business positively contributes to the creation of new opportunities and challenges for Operations Management. New technologies have made it possible for managers to access, store and process large amounts of data, collected from different complementary sources, both internal and externally to processes. Nonetheless, even though such data availability may be of great contribution for management at the operational level, its potential for value creation at the operations strategy level remains unclear. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impacts of recent trends and features related to the digital transformation in the operations management field, namely to further understand how such digital transformation is going to impact the operations strategy definition.

Highlights

  • Industry 4.0 is based on the integration of innovative information and communication technologies into the value chain by means of inter-connection and computerization of traditional processes [1, 2]

  • In order to contribute to a better understanding of the impacts resulting from the implementation of Industry 4.0 scenarios in current and future organizations, this paper aims at contributing to close this gap in research related to such trends and challenges on the operations management field

  • Even though the terms «Industry 4.0»or «fourth industrial revolution»may not be fully accepted by academia and/or industry alike [2, 5], there is no doubt that a disruptive change of processes and operations is on the verge of taking place on a global scale due to such digital transformation

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

Industry 4.0 is based on the integration of innovative information and communication technologies into the value chain by means of inter-connection and computerization of traditional processes [1, 2]. Even though the terms «Industry 4.0»or «fourth industrial revolution»may not be fully accepted by academia and/or industry alike [2, 5], there is no doubt that a disruptive change of processes and operations is on the verge of taking place on a global scale due to such digital transformation. These changes result on a new trend of operations based on the integration of a set of technologies that enable ecosystems of innovation in smart factories and organizations to interconnect in real-time at a global scale. Considering the Industry 4.0 paradigm, four key design principles and technology trends [5] related to current digital transformation of operations can be identified, namely: interconnection, information, decentralization and flexibility

Cyber-Physical Interconnectivity of Systems
Information Transparency and the use of Digital Twins of Real-World Systems
Decentralized Decision Making
Increased Autonomy and Flexibility of Cyber-Physical Systems
CONVERTING CURRENT MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS INTO SMART FACTORIES
Steering Operations and Processes
Shaping Operations and Processes
Planning and Controlling Operations
Improving Operations
CHALLENGES FOR OPERATIONS
SUMMARY AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
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