Industry 4.0 as an Opportunity and Challenge for the Furniture Industry—A Case Study

Luboš Červený, Roman Sloup (), Tereza Červená, Marcel Riedl and Petra Palátová
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Luboš Červený: Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic
Roman Sloup: Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic
Tereza Červená: Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic
Marcel Riedl: Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic
Petra Palátová: Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-21

Abstract: The aim of the document is to provide effective guidelines and recommendations for the effective design of the implementation process of Industry 4.0 in the furniture sector and to provide managers with effective guidance in this context. The primary data sources are semi-structured expert interviews and questionnaire surveys. Based on the structured interviews with executives of furniture companies in 2021 and 2022, the main drivers necessary for the implementation of Industry 4.0 in the furniture industry were identified both from the internal company environment perspective using a 7S analysis and from the technological perspective using Industry 4.0 building blocks applied to individual examples in the furniture industry. The respondents agree that the current state of the sector is generally at the Industry 2.0 level. They also recommend SMEs establish inter-company cooperation in production and development, which will enable the involvement of small and medium enterprises in buyer–supplier linkages. They further stress that the application of Industry 4.0 has led to rapid shifts in terms of: an increase in the operational efficiency in a range of 30–50%, a reduction in communication flow, errors and repetitive operations, and thus has directly contributed to the realisation of sustainable production.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; smart company; project management; smart factories; innovation; artificial intelligence; competitiveness; cloud storage; process management; model 7S (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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