A Precondition of Sustainability: Industry 4.0 Readiness

Slavko Rakic, Marko Pavlovic and Ugljesa Marjanovic
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Slavko Rakic: Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Marko Pavlovic: Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Ugljesa Marjanovic: Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-12

Abstract: To achieve sustainability and further develop their businesses, manufacturing companies need to find an appropriate response to the frequent changes in customer demands, development of new technologies, and dynamic competition. One of the possible requirements for sustainability is the adoption of the Industry 4.0 paradigm. This paper aims to apply Industry 4.0 general readiness assessment methodology and social network analysis to find out the readiness level of Serbian manufacturing and how digital technologies interplay during the time. The results of this study show that wireless human-machine communication technologies initiated the digital transformation of Serbian manufacturing from non-users to basic readiness level. Secondly, manufacturing companies significantly invested in the Cyber-Physical Production System to increase the level towards high readiness. Finally, manufacturing companies in Serbia should consider investing in capabilities to adapt the Near real-time production control system if aiming to compete with competitors from developed countries. The main contribution of this paper is to show the general readiness level of manufacturing companies for digital transformation in transition economies.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; digital technologies; readiness model; social network analysis; manufacturing companies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6641-:d:572677

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