Preliminary investigation of Industry 4.0 readiness among small and medium aviation companies in Malaysia

Abstract

In recent years, the wave of Industry 4.0 is seen to encroach into the Malaysian aviation industry especially among major aviation companies. However, the Industry 4.0 readiness among small and medium aviation companies is virtually unknown. This study aimed to conduct a preliminary investigation on the Industry 4.0’s readiness level among small and medium aviation companies. Multiple case study has been conducted over 4 aviation companies (1 chartered airlines, and 3 maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) companies) operating in Malaysia. Data was collected using qualitative interview with managers of the respective companies and analysed using content analysis. Finding shows that the Industry 4.0 readiness status of small and medium aviation companies are still at the embryonic stage. The practical implication of this study contributes to the understanding of rising need for government agencies’ supports to assist the small and medium aviation companies particularly in overcoming the Industry 4.0 implementation challenges. The purposive sampling and the small number of samples limit the generalizability of the findings. Hence, full fledge empirical study is suggested to be conducted to facilitate the generalization to the whole aviation population.