Prioritization of strategies to overcome the barriers in Industry 4.0: a hybrid MCDM approach

Abstract

Over the past few years, Industry 4.0 has received significant global attention owning to its capability to enhance the sustainability and future competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. However, manufacturers are experiencing numerous difficulties while implementing Industry 4.0 due to the sheer number of barriers. In light of this, the present study aims to identify the Industry 4.0 barriers and prioritize the strategies to overcome these barriers for the successful implementation of Industry 4.0. Based on the extensive literature review and discussion with experts, a total of twenty-three Industry 4.0 barriers and eighteen strategies were identified and finalized. This research proposes a hybrid framework using Modified Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis and Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment methods to propose the strategies to overcome the Industry 4.0 barriers. In order to demonstrate the practical applicability of the proposed framework, an empirical case investigation of an Indian auto component manufacturing company has been carried out. The findings of this study reveal that “Commitment from top management towards Industry 4.0 implementation” is the top-ranked strategy, followed by ‘Framing of a strategic roadmap for Industry 4.0 implementation’ and  “Align people, process and technology for effective change management” to mitigate the impact of Industry 4.0 barriers. The proposed framework offers a systematic approach for the practitioners to understand and analyze the various barriers and strategies to overcome these barriers for successful implementation of Industry 4.0.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Steps involved in data collection to rate the relative significance of main criteria and sub-criteria barriers of Industry 4.0 (Tables 7, 8).

Table 7 Rating for Major criteria barriers

Table 8 Rating for Sub-criteria barriers

• Step A: Organize the major criteria barriers (j) in descending order, on the basis of their expected significance

• Step B: Assign a value of 100 to the most important criteria.

• Step C: Start with the second criterion, indicate the relative importance of criterion j to the previous criterion (j − 1).

Step involved in data collection to rate the strategies of Industry 4.0

Step A. Indicate your response on a scale of 1–100 to rate the impact of particular strategies in mitigating the Industry 4.0 barriers (Table 9).

Table 9 Rate the effectiveness of strategies to overcome Industry 4.0 barriers

Appendix 2: Sample calculations for SWARA methodology

Tables 10 and 11 shows the steps required to obtain the weights of major criteria barriers and sub-criteria barriers of Industry 4.0 using the modified SWARA methodology. The input data was collected from three expert groups (E1, E2 and E3) and the response was aggregated using geometric mean.

Table 10 Determining the weights for major criteria barriers

Table 11 Obtaining the weights for (SB), OB, TIB, LB and SCB

Appendix 3: Sample calculations for WASPAS methodology

Tables 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 shows the steps needed to determine the ranks of Industry 4.0 strategies using the WASPAS methodology. The input data from the three expert groups (E1, E2 and E3) was aggregated by the geometric mean of the values.

Table 12 Obtaining the decision matrix (Step1)

Table 13 Obtaining the normalized decision matrix (step 2)

Table 14 Obtaining the total relative importance values for summarizing part (i.e. WSM) ${\text{Q}}_{\rm{i}}^{\left( 1 \right)}$ (Step 3a)

Table 15 Obtaining total relative importance values for multiplication part (i.e. WPM) ${\text{Q}}_{\rm{i}}^{\left( 2 \right)}$ (Step 3b)

Table 16 Obtaining (Q_i) total relative significance values for the alternatives (step 4)