Smart factory: a game changer or another fad in the era of fourth industrial revolution
by Hokey Min
International Journal of Technology Management (IJTM), Vol. 89, No. 1/2, 2022

Abstract: With rapid technological innovations, today's world is often characterised by never-ending changes in our life styles, socio-economic status, and interactions among ourselves. These changes are further accelerated with the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) that started in Germany in 2011. In particular, this revolution has begun to transform the way we manufacture products and deliver those products to customers. One of those transformations includes the increasing adoption of smart factory concepts. Despite increased attention to a smart factory, its fundamentals, application areas, and potential impacts on firm performances are not well documented in the literature. To help manufacturing firms better understand smart factory concepts and successfully build a smart factory within a supply chain, this paper synthesises the evolution of smart factory concepts, designs underlying architecture, develops specific milestones for monitoring the progress of smart factory adoption, and then identifies key success factors for its implementation in global business environments. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to provide practical guidelines that will lead to the successful development and operationalisation of a smart factory based on the qualitative content analysis.

Online publication date: Fri, 20-May-2022

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