Research on the Correlation between Industry 4.0 and Sustainable Development in the Machine Tool industry – Application of QFD and Fuzzy MADM methods

Abstract

<p>Starting in 2025, Taiwan will introduce a requirement that listed companies with a paid-in capital of less than 2 billion NTD need to prepare a sustainability report. Most of the actual income scale of Taiwan’s machine tool industry falls within this range. In response to the requirement, the machine tool industry must reduce its impact on the environment and society and strike a balance while increasing economic returns. This is undoubtedly a major challenge for the machine tool industry, which is one of the most internationally competitive industries in Taiwan. If sustainable development (SD) can be successfully implemented, it will set a benchmark for Taiwan’s traditional industries.</p> <p>The machine tool industry has continued to improve its industrial competitiveness in recent years, especially after Germany proposed the concept of Industry 4.0 in 2013, which accelerated the pace of industrial upgrading and transformation. Studies have shown that the adoption of Industry 4.0 technology can effectively enhance the sustainable performance of enterprises. Additionally, in the literature on SD, it has been confirmed that there is a significant positive relationship between corporate social responsibility and profitability.</p> <p>This study will propose a reasonable and feasible model framework to demonstrate the relationship between SD factors and Industry 4.0 technical indicators, aiming to identify the key Industry 4.0 technologies to improve SD. This study uses the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method as the basic structure and adopts the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) of the Multiple Attribute Decision Making (MADM), the improved Fuzzy Extended Analytic Hierarchy Process (FEAHP), and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for prioritizing performance index factors.</p>