News | Wednesday, 19th July 2023
Researchers at Manchester Met keeping up with Industry 4.0
With the support of a seed corn grant from the Business Transformations research centre, researchers are exploring business adoption of Industry 4.0 principles to remain agile and address the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
As the UK responds to the aftermath of Brexit, UK manufacturers are pivoting their supply chains and rethinking offshoring practices. UK manufacturers are also responding to the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) by revisiting operational practices and business models. In light of these sustainable and political challenges, it is imperative for UK manufacturers to build in resilience to adapt and remain agile.
Dr Marina Papalexi and Dr Iain Reid were awarded a seed corn grant from the Business Transformations Research Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University, which helped them to further explore these issues. With support from the grant, they recruited Alexandra Taylor who conducted a structured literature review to better understand Industry 4.0 drivers and challenges in implementing new technologies in the UK manufacturing sector. Additionally, Jamie Laird, the KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) research associate working for company Vivobarefoot, provided the team with a business perspective.
The literature review identified the key drivers for Industry 4.0 adoption. Industry 4.0 is helping shape economic and environmental sustainability of companies and being used to improve their supply chain offering and reshoring operations. Businesses are utilising Industry 4.0 capabilities and becoming more agile in response to stakeholder pressures arising from customers, changing politics, increased costs, and competition. Additionally, traditionally disconnected factories face issues like inefficiency, increased risk of errors, and variability, making Industry 4.0 implementation even more crucial.
COVID-19 forced companies like footwear manufacturer Vivobarefoot to operate in isolation, unable to main their operational transparency, preventing supply chain visibility, and restricting collaborations across supply chain networks. This forced businesses to turn to more sophisticated digital communication technologies for developing and distributing products. One of the tipping points was the significant disruption caused by the blocking of the Suez Canal, which further highlighted the vulnerability of Vivobarefoot's supply chain. Considering that the Suez Canal blockage has occurred multiple times in the past (1956, 1967-1975, 2004, 2006, 2021), such incidents cannot be seen as one-off events; instead, they serve as reminders to enhance the resilience and robustness of supply chains.
Industry 4.0, with its digitisation of products, processes and services, presents a new frontier of business operations to satisfy customer-driven expectations. Technological innovation and digital advancement hold the potential to enable UK manufacturers, including companies like Vivobarefoot, to adapt and respond to environmental challenges in a more efficient manner, improving performance whist incorporating sustainability. By capitalising on the power of Industry 4.0 capabilities to bring data-driven processes and operational transparency to the entire business, companies can leverage a wide range of technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and blockchain. These technologies offer enhanced interoperability (connectivity across systems), paving the way for the creation of automated and interconnected systems, and enabling companies to optimise their communication channels and streamline their operations.
The analysis conducted by the research team also highlighted significant obstacles that impede widespread adoption of Industry 4.0. These challenges include limited academic research on systematic implementation and the substantial initial investment required for technology and upskilling. Indeed, although Vivobarefoot expressed a strong desire to embrace Industry 4.0 initiatives, they faced challenges when it came to understanding the effective implementation of the most appropriate technologies for digitalising their supply chain. To overcome these challenges, it is vital to prioritise the promotion of awareness regarding Industry 4.0 and its adoption.
In response to these challenges, the research team developed recommendations to ensure UK manufacturers can obtain the benefits associated with Industry 4.0. Companies need to assess the cost-saving benefits, considering economic sustainability versus the cost of technology. This could be evidenced through more research, which highlights methods of implementation that could be adapted across factories. Not only does this require enhanced awareness of Industry 4.0 within UK manufacturing, but it also means that incentives ought to be put in place to fund research and adoption. Furthermore, risk management should be optimised to mitigate current doubts that can lead to inflexible manufacturers. Overall, the study explores the uptake of new technologies that inform supply chain decisions surrounding Industry 4.0 adoption.
