The Advantages of Industry 4.0 Applications for Sustainability: Results from a Sample of Manufacturing Companies

Riccardo Brozzi,Dominik T Matt,David Forti,Erwin Rauch

doi:10.3390/su12093647

Riccardo Brozzi, Dominik T Matt + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093647

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Abstract

Far from being exclusively related to economic considerations, the advantages of Industry 4.0 applications also include environmental and social concerns. An increasing amount of scientific publications relate the implementation of the fourth industrial revolution paradigm to sustainability. Several studies reported opportunities of Industry 4.0 implementation particularly to the environmental dimension of sustainability, e.g., through improved logistics streams and lowered waste from production. The present research aims at providing evidence on whether manufacturing companies consider Industry 4.0 implementation as an advantage contributing to environmental and social sustainability in terms of lower environmental impact of production, as well as higher physical relief for workers and flexibility of work organisation. The results were an attempt to study such relations with company sizes, industry sectors, turnover and self-assessed levels of digitalization varying. The sample encompasses 65 companies located in the Marche region (Italy). The results show that overall the perception of economic opportunities prevail, while the association of a beneficial impact of Industry 4.0 on environmental sustainability is rather low across companies, regardless of their size, turnover and digital level. As for the statistically significant variables, the results suggest a strong association of the size and the digital level to specific Industry 4.0 related advantages, referring to the social and economic dimension of sustainability, respectively.

Highlights

The core of Industry 4.0 lies in the real-time and smart connection of people, machines and objects for the management of production systems [1]
The results show that overall the perception of economic opportunities prevail, while the association of a beneficial impact of Industry 4.0 on environmental sustainability is rather low across companies, regardless of their size, turnover and digital level
The assessment of the digital level of companies and the perceived advantages relating to the implementation of Industry 4.0 was part of the survey, distributed among a sample of manufacturing companies associated to Confindustria Marche Nord, the industrial representative association located in Central Italy Marche Region

Summary

Introduction

The core of Industry 4.0 lies in the real-time and smart connection of people, machines and objects for the management of production systems [1]. The success of Industry 4.0 and the approaches under it will depend on whether small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can adopt and implement these technologies, as they represent the backbone of several productive systems worldwide [3]. The introduction of technologies and concepts inherited from the Industry 4.0 paradigm is considered strategic for small and medium sized enterprises (SME) to ensure competitiveness, increasing productivity and flexibility of production systems [8,9], while matching the growing market demand for customised products and services [10]. Business, research and institutions have been increasingly focusing their attention on the sustainability implications of Industry 4.0, in terms of economic, environmental and social impacts of manufacturing and digitalisation, requiring the scientific community to further explore such dynamics [11]

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