The four smarts of Industry 4.0: Evolution of ten years of research and future perspectives

Benjamin Meindl, Néstor Fabián Ayala, Joana Mendonça and Alejandro G. Frank

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2021, vol. 168, issue C

Abstract: The Industry 4.0 literature has exponentially grown in the past decade. We aim to understand how this literature has evolved and propose future research opportunities. We focus on four smart dimensions of Industry 4.0: Smart Manufacturing, Smart Products and Services, Smart Supply Chain, and Smart Working. We perform a machine learning-based systematic literature review. Our analysis included 4,973 papers published from 2011 to 2020. We conducted a chronological network analysis considering the growth of these four dimensions and the connections between them. We also analyzed keywords and the main journals publishing on these four smart dimensions. We show that the literature has mainly been devoted to the study of Smart Manufacturing, although attention to the other smart dimensions has been growing in recent years. Smart Working is the less explored dimension, with many opportunities for future research. We show that research opportunities are concentrated in the interfaces between the different smart dimensions. Our findings support the vision of Industry 4.0 as a concept transcending the Smart Manufacturing field, thus creating opportunities for synergies with other related fields. Scholars can use our findings to understand the orientation of journals and gaps that can be fulfilled by future research.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; Smart Manufacturing; Smart Products and Services; Smart Working; Smart Supply Chain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:168:y:2021:i:c:s004016252100216x

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120784

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