Transformative Impact of Industry 4.0 Technologies on the UK Manufacturing Sector

Abstract

The study emphasizes the importance of Industry 4.0 technologies and its benefits on manufacturing organizations. Industry 4.0 is a fourth generation industrial revolution and it is based on autonomous manufacturing. This concept was initially floated in Germany and similar concepts were also emerged in various countries later on. One of the other concepts is smart manufacturing which emerged in the US. These concepts may look similar but Industry 4.0 covers a wide range of disciplines as it not only connects with manufacturing, but it also connects with society, government, academia and the environment. This study has a limited scope within the manufacturing domain and analyses the impact of Industry 4.0 on OEE and competitiveness with respect to organisation size. The research questions have been formulated to cater the domains of OEE and competitiveness. Organizational size is being used as dependent variable and Industry 4.0 technologies as an independent variable in the empirical analysis. The variables of OEE, competitiveness have been empirically tested against them. The total time duration of the completion of the thesis is 4 years and 6 months. The study has also shed light on the importance of digital transformation of an organization as it is important for an organization to implement Industry 4.0 technologies. The study has also emphasized the relationship of flexible products and competitiveness in the literature and the empirical findings have also contributed to the scientific literature in this regard. Most importantly, the thesis has formulated the prerequisites of Industry 4.0 technologies to be implemented to evaluate the readiness of a firm before Industry 4.0 technologies could be implemented. These prerequisites also act as the drivers of the operational competitiveness for a manufacturing firm. The impact of Industry 4.0 on OEE is also discussed in this study and the empirical findings of the study have also contributed to understand this subject in a better way. The thesis has extensively analysed the operational competitiveness variables which also act as the performance indicators. There is a significant impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on the operational competitiveness. Several variables of competitiveness have shown a positive impact of Industry 4.0 technologies over them. The empirical findings of the dissertation will help the researchers in future and to gather more ideas for their research in the similar research domain. This research will not only play the role of a guide for the researchers in the academia but will also provide a roadmap to the managers and policymakers working in the organizations.