What is Industry 4.0: a Review of the Literature Using the Conceptual Bibliographic Method

Abstract

Purpose: Scientific production has tried to understand the various evolutionary intricacies of Industry 4.0, the so-called fourth industrial revolution. As discoveries increase and deepen, there must also be an effort to understand the frontiers of scientific knowledge, its most noticeable and studied aspects, and those attributes that have only now been perceived. It is, therefore, necessary to periodically take stock of what science knows about the phenomenon to understand where it is headed and which paths have already been taken. Therefore, the need to take inventory of the current state of knowledge about Industry 4.0 was the theoretical justification for this study.   Theoretical framework: The theoretical architecture of this study consisted of the transformations that the industrial revolutionary stages caused in production systems, firstly, and then for the entire society. It involves aspects from various areas of scientific knowledge to understand the different perceptions contained in the scientific literature on the phenomenon of Industry 4.0.   Design/Methodology/Approach: The conceptual bibliographic method was used to generate answers to three guiding questions: What are the main approaches to Industry 4.0? What are its main attributes? What is its irradiation logic? All conceptual definitions in scientific studies published in English and Portuguese available in the Google Scholar database from 2019 to 2020 were analyzed, with a total of 19 studies. The semantic analysis technique was used to identify the approaches and attributes, which were then organized by semantic proximity, constituting the semantic groupings on which the results were generated and interpreted.   Findings: The results showed the existence of eight groups of approaches (procedures, evolution, time, grouping, transformation, layer, organization, and model) and twelve groups of attributes (industrialization, transformation technologies, information technologies, integrated system, processes, society, quality, knowledge, planning, market, value chain, and automation). These discoveries made it possible to understand that Industry 4.0 has a driving force: knowledge, which spreads similarly in waves until it reaches the entire society and is not limited only to the interior of factories and economic organizations.   Research, Practical, and Social Implications: Two implications of these findings stand out. The first is the dynamic nature of implementing Industry 4.0 in organizations, whether economic or not, which is done more quickly if knowledge and technologies are available or more slowly when expertise and technologies are fragile or non-existent. The second is teleological since the purpose of Industry 4.0 and all industrial revolutions is to continually improve production processes, even though these benefits often generate unwanted externalities, such as environmental impacts. This means that the progress of knowledge and its developments cannot be stopped but can be directed towards other purposes.   Originality/Value: The main contribution of this study to science is to point out the current stage of the evolution of Industry 4.0 about previous revolutions. Three other contributions are also significant: identifying the main approaches to the phenomenon, its most prominent characteristics, and its irradiation dynamics.