Title: Prioritising the solutions to overcome Industry 4.0 implementation barriers in the Indian manufacturing industry context

Authors: Swapnil S. Lahane; Abhishek Patel; Ravi Kant

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat-395007, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat-395007, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat-395007, India

Abstract: At present, industrial sectors are at the verge of the fourth industrial revolution, i.e., Industry 4.0. This revolutionary era brings immense opportunities for the industry to improve its sustainability. Still, it is inevitable to have factors that hinder the implementation of Industry 4.0 in manufacturing organisations. This study aims to identify and rank the solutions of Industry 4.0 implementation to overcome its barriers. The barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption and solutions to overcome them are identified based on literature analysis and subsequent discussions with the expert decision panel. This study proposes a hybrid framework of the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (F-AHP) and fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (F-TOPSIS). The F-AHP is used to determine the weight of the barriers, and F-TOPSIS is used to rank the solutions to mitigate the barriers of Industry 4.0. The applicability of the proposed framework is demonstrated using the Indian empirical case study example. This research provides a structured, more accurate, and systematic approach for organisations to diminish Industry 4.0 implementation barriers.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; supply chain; barriers; solutions; fuzzy analytical hierarchy process; F-AHP; fuzzy TOPSIS; sustainability; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISM.2021.118559

International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 2021 Vol.14 No.4, pp.392 - 427

Received: 26 Sep 2020
Accepted: 04 Mar 2021
Published online: 28 Oct 2021 *

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