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In the context of promoting sustainable development in SMEs, the present study aims to investigate the relationship among solution dimensions based on the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) concept.

The study employs a comprehensive methodology that includes a systematic literature review, workshop, grounded theory and interpretive structural modeling. Various dimensions concerning I4.0 sustainability are tested and evaluated using a questionnaire design followed by hypothesis formulation. Further, grounded theory is used to extract the key solution dimensions that capture the essence of I4.0 implementation in SMEs. Finally, the solution dimensions for I4.0 sustainability are modeled using the ISM approach to understand the structural interdependencies among them, and Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Applied to a Classification (MICMAC) analysis is done to understand the driving and dependence power among these dimensions.

The study identified 14 solution dimensions for the implementation of I4.0 in SMEs for sustainable development. Out of the 14 solution dimensions, human resource training programs (D4) appear at level 11, followed by top management commitment (D1), strategic collaborations (D3) and coordination among key stakeholders (D5) at level 2 in the hierarchical interpretive structural modeling (ISM) model. Also, these dimensions have an effect size of more than 0.50 which indicates a substantial correlation between the sustainability dimensions and Industry 4.0 implementation in SMEs.

The study contributes to the overall goal of fostering sustainability within the SME sector, which can pave the way for various stakeholders for the successful implementation of I4.0 sustainable solution dimensions.

This paper proposes strategies for adopting Industry 4.0 in achieving sustainable manufacturing, by overcoming barriers in the Sri Lankan manufacturing sector.

A conceptual model of sustainable manufacturing and Industry 4.0 was proposed based on a comprehensive literature review and validated through experts' inputs. The model was illustrated using three case studies to assess the relationships between sustainable manufacturing and Industry 4.0 in the Sri Lankan manufacturing context. Furthermore, possible strategies were proposed to overcome current barriers identified from case studies.

The case studies showcase that there is a considerable gap in Industry 4.0-enabled sustainable manufacturing in the Sri Lankan manufacturing sector due to several barriers. Thus, experts' knowledge-based strategies to overcome those barriers are proposed.

The conceptual model provides a holistic view of maturity levels of sustainable manufacturing measures directly connected with Industry 4.0 technologies. The study was limited to investigating the application of Industry 4.0 for sustainable manufacturing in leading apparel manufacturing organisations in Sri Lanka.

The conceptual model can be used as a framework to guide practitioners in implementing Industry 4.0-enabled sustainable manufacturing. The proposed strategies in addressing barriers to Industry 4.0 adoption towards sustainable manufacturing can be directly applied to achieving better sustainable manufacturing performance.

This study is an informative guide to encourage the Sri Lankan manufacturing industry to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies in achieving sustainable manufacturing, using the knowledge of relationships between Industry 4.0 and three dimensions of sustainable manufacturing, possible barriers and strategies.

Industry 4.0 has offered significant potential for manufacturing firms to alter and rethink their business models, production processes, strategies and objectives. Manufacturing organizations have recently undergone substantial transformation due to Industry 4.0 technologies. Hence, to successfully deploy and embed Industry 4.0 technologies in their organizational operations and practices, businesses must assess their adoption readiness. For this purpose, a multi-dimensional analytical indicator methodology has been developed to measure Industry 4.0 maturity and preparedness.

A weighted average method was adopted to assess the Industry 4.0 readiness using a case study from a steel manufacturing organization.

The result revealed that the firm ranks between Industry 2.0 and Industry 3.0, with an overall score of 2.32. This means that the organization is yet to achieve Industry 4.0 mature and ready organization.

The multi-dimensional indicator framework proposed can be used by managers, policymakers, practitioners and researchers to assess the current status of organizations in terms of Industry 4.0 maturity and readiness as well as undertake a practical diagnosis and prognosis of systems and processes for its future adoption.

Although research on Industry 4.0 maturity models has grown exponentially in recent years, this study is the first to develop a multi-dimensional analytical indicator to measure Industry 4.0 maturity and readiness.

Industry 4.0 and circular economy are the two major areas in the current manufacturing industry. However, the adoption and implementation of Industry 4.0 and circular economy worldwide are still in the nascent stage of development. To address this gap, the purpose of this article is to conduct a systematic literature review on integrating Industry 4.0 and circular economy. Further, identify the research gaps and provide the future scope of work in this area.

Content-based analysis was adopted for reviewing the research articles and proposed a transition framework that comprises of four categories, namely, (1) Transition from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0 and integration with circular economy; (2) Adoption of combined factors and different issues; (3) Implementation possibilities such as front-end technologies, integration capabilities and redesigning strategies; (4) Current challenges. The proposed study reviewed a total of 204 articles published from 2000 to 2020 based on these categories.

The article presents a systematic literature review of the last two decades that integrates Industry 4.0 and circular economy concepts. Findings revealed that very few studies considered the adoption and implementation issues of Industry 4.0 and circular economy. Moreover, it was found that Industry 4.0 technologies including digitalization, real-time monitoring and decision-making capabilities played a significant role in circular economy implementation. The major elements are discussed through the analysis of the transition and integration framework. The study further revealed that a limited number of developing countries like India have taken preliminary initiatives toward Industry 4.0 and circular economy implementation.

The study proposes a transition and integration framework that identifies adoption and implementation issues and challenges. This framework will help researchers and practitioners in implementation of Industry 4.0 and circular economy.

Reviews of articles indicated that there are very few studies on integrating Industry 4.0 and circular economy. Moreover, there are very few articles addressing adoption and implementation issues such as legal, ethical, operational and demographic issues, which may be used to monitor the organization's performance and productivity.

This purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the current state of research on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and Industry 4.0 and the key aspects of the relationships between them. The research analyses LSS's evolution and discusses the future role of LSS 4.0 in an increasingly digitalized world. We present the benefits and motivations of integrating LSS and Industry 4.0 as well as the critical success factors and challenges within this emerging area of research.

A systematic literature review methodology was established to identify, select and evaluate published research.

There is a synergistic nature between LSS and Industry 4.0. Companies having a strong LSS culture can ease the transition to Industry 4.0 while Industry 4.0 technologies can provide superior performance for companies who are using LSS methodology.

One limitation of this research was that as this area is a nascent area, the researchers were limited in their literature review and research. A more comprehensive longitudinal study would yield more data. There is an opportunity for further study and analysis.

This study reviews the evolution of LSS and its integration with Industry 4.0. Organisations can use this study to understand the benefits and motivating factors for integrating LSS and Industry 4.0, the Critical Success Factors and challenges to such integration.

This is the first systematic literature review on LSS 4.0 and can provide insight for practitioners, organisations and future research directions.

The digital revolution has brought many challenges and opportunities for the manufacturing firms. The impact of Industry 4.0 technology adoption on sustainable manufacturing and circular economy has been under-researched. This paper aims to review the latest articles in the area of Industry 4.0, sustainable manufacturing and circular economy and further developed a research framework showing key paths.

Qualitative research is performed in two stages. In the first stage, a review of the extant literature is performed to identify the barriers, drivers, challenges and opportunities. In the second stage, a research framework is proposed to integrate Industry 4.0 technology (big data analytics powered artificial intelligence) adoption, sustainable manufacturing and circular economy capabilities.

This research extends the knowledge base by providing a detailed review of Industry 4.0, sustainable manufacturing, and circular economy and proposes a research framework by integrating these three contemporary concepts in the context of supply chain management. Through an exploration of this integrative research framework, the authors propose a future research agenda and seven research propositions.

It is important to understand the interplay between institutional pressures, tangible resources and human skills for Industry 4.0 technology (big data analytics powered artificial intelligence) adoption. Industry 4.0 technology (big data analytics powered artificial intelligence) adoption can positively influence sustainable manufacturing and circular economy capabilities. Managers must also put more attention to sustainable manufacturing to develop circular economic capabilities.

Factory workers and the local communities generally suffer from various adverse effects resulting from the traditional manufacturing process. The quality of the environment is deteriorating to such an extent that people even staying miles away from the factory are also affected due to environmental pollution that is generated from factory operations. Hence, sustainable manufacturing is the only choice left to manufacturers that can help in the transition to a circular economy. The research framework can help firms to enhance circular economy capabilities.

This review paper contains the most updated work on Industry 4.0, sustainable manufacturing and circular economy. It also proposes a research framework to integrate these three concepts.

Prior to managing a company’s processes in the presence of a combination of paradigms, there is a need to understand their underlying interaction. This paper systematically reviews the existing literature that discusses the interaction between lean production (LP) and the fourth industrial revolution (i.e. Industry 4.0). The study aims to understand how the interaction unfolds and whether it is synergistic.

The research relies on a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed articles from Scopus and Web of Science that discuss the interaction between the two paradigms. The final set of articles pertaining to the topic was analysed.

The article presents that the interaction between the two paradigms occurs through a representation of the pillars of the House of Lean (HoL) interacting with the nine technological pillars of Industry 4.0. There is a consensus on the synergistic nexus among the pillars and their positive impact on operational performance. We also demonstrate the weights of the interactions between the two paradigms and the areas of operations management where this interaction takes place through Sankey charts. Our research indicates that the largest synergistic interaction occurs between just-in-time and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and that companies should invest in IoT and cyber-physical systems as they have the greatest weight of interactions with the pillars of the HoL.

This research facilitates a deeper insight into the interaction between LP and Industry 4.0 by organising and discussing existing research on the subject matter. It serves as a starting point for future researchers to formulate hypotheses about the interaction among the various pillars of LP and Industry 4.0, apply these interactions and test them through empirical research.

It could serve as a guide for managers to understand with which interactions they should start the digitalisation process.

With the rise in discussions on the interaction between the two paradigms, there is still an opportunity to understand the specificity of this interaction. Compared to the initial seminal works on the subject, such as Buer et al. (2018b), which investigated the direction of interaction between the two paradigms, this research contributes to further investigating this specificity and gaining a better understanding of the relationship governing the interaction between LP and Industry 4.0 by delineating the interaction state among the pillars of the two paradigms and its relevant importance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of firms’ features on innovation performance in Industry 4.0, focusing on the concepts of breadth and depth of openness in the innovation process.

Using data gathered from 96 firms active in Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in Italy, a Poisson regression analysis is conducted to investigate the relationship between the openness of firms’ innovation processes at the level of knowledge sources and their innovation performance in I4.0.

The results highlight the relationship between the level of openness and innovative performance in I4.0. In particular, the breadth of the openness of the innovation process of enterprises is curvilinearly related to innovation in I4.0, taking an inverted U-shape.

Managers of firms operating in I4.0 should consider openness as a strategic response to the knowledge requirements and risks associated with the innovation process in complex technologies.

Through the questionnaires administered mainly to highly qualified individuals, an original and unique database has been created with information on the openness of the innovative process and the innovation performances in I4.0.

The main purpose of this research is to (1) prioritise key determinants of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) readiness assessment and (2) evaluate causal relationships among those determinants and associated sub-criteria based on inputs from industry experts.

The methodology involved two phases: (1) an MCDM approach for determining causal relationships among determinants and (2) empirical validation of findings from the first phase using industry experts' inputs.

It was found that while the choice of I4.0 technologies is important, organisational factors are also critical, as evidenced by the ranking of the “Strategy and Organisation” determinant as the highest rank prominent determinant. Also, the ranking of the sub-criteria within each determinant shows the importance of several organisational influencing and resulting sub-criteria.

This research extends the existing literature on I4.0 by demonstrating the prioritisation of determinants and delineating causal relationships among them and associated sub-criteria as a basis for developing I4.0 adoption guidelines. This research is limited to the specific scope of determinants selected/considered and experts' inputs from the Sri Lankan manufacturing sector. Future studies could consider extending this research into a broader global manufacturing context.

Prioritisation and causal relationships of I4.0 readiness assessment determinants, supported with inputs from functional managers and industry experts, could be used to guide practitioners in developing guidelines for I4.0 adoption in a phased manner.

This research provides a re-evaluation and validation of a selected I4.0 readiness assessment framework from the perspectives of interdependencies and casual relationships among its determinants and sub-criteria, based on inputs from industry experts as a basis for developing guidelines for I4.0 adoption.

Operational excellence (OpEx) is a direction toward learning and developing an excellent culture in all aspects of an organization. To reach this culture, revolutionizing activities using industry 4.0 (i4.0) technologies might be a significant empowering tool. This study aims to identify the challenges and benefits of both concepts and investigate their interrelationship to be considered in applying industry 4.0 technologies toward operational excellence.

The challenges and benefits of OpEx and i4.0 are identified and finalized by reviewing the literature. The causal relations between the considered factors are extracted using the fuzzy DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) method. Then, the analytical network process (ANP) is applied to determine the importance and weight of the factors (challenges and benefits of OpEx and i4.0) according to the constructed network.

The findings illustrated a strong network structure between the factors. First, the causal factors included OpEx and i4.0 challenges, while the OpEx challenges also affected the i4.0 challenges. Both group challenges had a significant effect on OpEx and i4.0 benefits. This means that challenges are the causal factors to be considered in the alignment of i4.0 toward OpEx. Among the OpEx challenges, lack of strategic planning and proper infrastructure were the main influential factors. In contrast, lack of government support and undeveloped business models were identified as the main challenges of i4.0.

OpEx and i4.0 concepts are reviewed and their pros and cons are studied. Previous studies determined an interaction among these concepts. However, from a practical viewpoint, the relation between the challenges and benefits of i4.0 and OpEx was studied for the first time for their alignment.