Industry 4.0 factors affecting SMEs towards sustainable manufacturing

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is one of the essential topics that has been researched extensively in the research domain. In the same way, there are also several research available to check the connections between I4.0 and sustainable manufacturing. It is because of the increasing concern of stakeholders over environmental challenges that manufacturing units are often blamed. It is also true that a major part of manufacturing is done by SMEs in almost every developed or developing economy of the world including India. Therefore, the present research work took place to identify the factors that are essential for sustainable manufacturing using I4.0 in Indian SMEs. In the present study, a total of six factors were identified from the previous studies, which are technological factors (TF), organizational factors (OF), environmental factors (ENF), societal factors (SF), economic factors (ECF), and external stakeholders' factors (ESF) considering the triple bottom line (TBL) approach of the sustainability model. Each factor consists of a few sub-factors, and a total of thirty-five factors were developed. The best-worst method (BWM) and Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) were applied to bring the results. The result suggests that OF and TF are ranked number one and two respectively. ECF and ENF ranked at three and four whereas, ESF and SF ranked at five and six respectively. The study helps firm managers revolutionize their organizations’ approach to the sustainability model by looking at the Industry 4.0 factors affecting SMEs toward sustainable manufacturing. When managers and practitioners try to convert their business digitally, this study also enables them to prioritize the many I4.0 factors that are most important to their organization. The model was validated by a regional application in Saudi Arabia.