9.1 Introduction
9.2 Background
9.2.1 Organizational Barriers to Industry 4.0 Implementation
Qiao and Wang (2012) | Hatler (2012) | Kagermann et al. (2013) | Koch et al. (2014) | World Economic Forum (2014) | Geissbauer et al. (2014) | Schlaepfer and Koch (2014) | Heng (2014) | IBM (2015) | Dixit et al. (2015) | Otuka et al. (2014) | Meißner et al. (2017) | Wenking et al. (2016) | Jäger et al. (2016) | Müller et al. (2017) | Nylander et al. (2017) | Zawra et al. (2017) | Schröder (2016) | Müller et al. (2018) | Total | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Economic/financial | High investments required
| C | E | E | E | E | C | E | E | 8 | |||||||||||
Lack of monetary resources
| E | C | E | C | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
Lack of clearly defined economic benefit
| E | E | E | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Cultural | Lack of support by top management
| E | E | E | E | C | 5 | ||||||||||||||
Preferred autonomy
| E | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
Competencies/resources | Lack of skilled employees
| E | E | E | E | C | E | 6 | |||||||||||||
Lack of technical knowledge
| E | E | E | E | E | C | E | C | C | E | 10 | ||||||||||
Complexity
| E | E | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
Need to find suitable research partner
| E | E | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
Legal |
Data security concerns | E | C | E | E | E | E | C | E | C | E | C | E | 12 | |||||||
Technical | Lack of standards
| C | E | C | E | E | E | C | C | E | E | C | C | C | 13 | ||||||
Uncertainty about the reliability
of the systems | E | E | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
Weak IT infrastructure
| E | E | E | E | E | C | E | 7 | |||||||||||||
Storage data
| E | C | C | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Difficult interoperability/compatibility
| C | E | C | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Technology immaturity
| E | E | E | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
Implementation Process
| Need for new business models
| E | E | E | C | 4 | |||||||||||||||
Lack of methodical approach for implementation | E | E | C | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
High coordination effort
| E | 1 |
-
Economic/financial (high investments required, lack of monetary resources, lack of clearly defined economic benefits)
-
Cultural (lack of support by top management; preferred autonomy)
-
Competencies/resources (lack of skilled employees, lack of technical knowledge; complexity of the Industry 4.0 application both technical and practical, need to find suitable research partner)
-
Legal (data security concerns)
-
Technical (lack of standards, uncertainty about the reliability of the systems, weak IT infrastructure, difficult interoperability/compatibility, technology immaturity)
-
Implementation process (need for new business models, lack of methodical approach for implementation, high coordination effort).
9.2.2 Barriers to Innovation
Category | Barrier | Exemplary references |
---|---|---|
Economic/financial | Lack of monetary resources
| Kelley (2009) |
High investments required
| ||
Innovation cost difficult to control | ||
Cultural | Lack of support from customer/supplier | |
Unsupportive government
| ||
Paucity of external finance | Minetti (2010) | |
Excessive risk
| ||
Preferred autonomy
| Lynn et al. (1996) | |
Unsupportive organizational structure
| ||
Restrictive mindset
| Wolfe et al. (2006) | |
Restrictive local culture | Riffai et al. (2012) | |
Technical | Technological immaturity | Chiesa and Frattini (2011) |
Lack of competencies
| Lack of discovery competencies
| O’Connor and DeMartino (2006) |
Lack of incubation competencies
| O’Connor and DeMartino (2006) | |
Lack of acceleration and commercialization competencies
| ||
Lack of qualified employees | ||
Lack of information about technologies | ||
Inappropriate infrastructure
| Iyer et al. (2006) |
9.3 Problem Formulation
9.4 Methodology
9.4.1 Focus Group Method
9.4.2 Sample Selection and Data Collection
9.4.3 Data Analysis
Barriers | Liter. | Italy | Austria | Thailand | USA | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Economic/financial | High investments required
| I4.0/IB | High investments (with uncertain ROI) | Investment (machineries, construction, …) | Investment in production systems and training | High tool costs and time investments |
High cost and high effort | ||||||
For what size of company does an investment makes sense? | ||||||
Lack of monetary resources
| I4.0/IB | Capital/need a capital support | Capital to invest | |||
Lack of clearly defined economic benefit
| I4.0 | Measurement of results is difficult | Investments/amortization | Do we recognize the impact on our company? | ||
(High investments with) uncertain ROI
| ||||||
Product characteristics
| Value of the product (low value is not worth) | |||||
Cultural | Lack of trust between partners | I4.0 | Lack of intersectoral cooperation/exchange | |||
Lack of support by top management
| I4.0/IB | Clear direction in the company is necessary | Top management support | Top management has no awareness in Industry 4.0 | ||
Commitment of the management is important | Mostly an unclearly defined part of the corporate strategy | Mindset overview > process, plan, customer … | ||||
Mentality of the enterprise | Indecisive top management | |||||
Self-discipline | ||||||
Communication or transparency is missing | ||||||
Courage for new things | ||||||
Lack of total vision of Industry 4.0 for logistics
| ||||||
Preferred autonomy
| I4.0 | Lack of easy “best practice sharing with other companies” | ||||
Restrictive mindset
| IB | Lack of willingness to take risks
| “the way we’ve always done it” | |||
People must “want” to introduce I4.0 instead of being forced | Changing way of thinking to modern methods | |||||
Unsupportive organiz. structure | IB | HQ’s decision-making management system | ||||
Complexity of the organization. | ||||||
Acceptance of employees | IB | Acceptance of employees | Acceptance of new technologies | Attitude of workers to accept and change | Company culture due to fear of automation
| |
Communication to employees | Integration of employees | |||||
Employees are not yet aware of the changes | No acceptance (open rejection) | |||||
Employees are afraid of losing jobs due to new tech. | ||||||
Lack of support from customer/supplier | Customers who are ready to support new systems | Squeezed in the middle of supply chain, not seen as strategic partner | ||||
Don’t know the true needs of customers or the market | ||||||
Focus on day-to-day operations | No time to sit back and strategize | |||||
Awareness about the potential of robots | Need to believe that if I buy a robot for a job, I will still be able to use it when the job is done | |||||
Lack of support from the IT department | We are just a production base. We follow decisions of the parent company | |||||
Competencies/resources | Lack of skilled employees/lack of technical knowledge
| I4.0/IB | Lack of qualifications and training of employees | Know-how | Lack of expertise of personnel for supporting Industry 4.0 | Resources (people) |
ICT barriers for employees | Training requirements | |||||
Complexity
| I4.0 | Complexity of Industry 4.0 | ||||
High coordination effort
| I4.0 |
Implementation requires major changes from suppliers | ||||
Not all suppliers are prepared | ||||||
Lack of knowledge of Industry 4.0 technologies and technical providers | A complete overview of the market is not yet available | Solution provider | ||||
Missing overview of what makes sense for the SME
| Lack of access to the source of information and technology | |||||
Analysis of the needs for Industry 4.0 | How SMEs access the source of available technology | |||||
SMEs do not have an own “department” for Industry 4.0 | Knowledge of the technologies | |||||
Factory layout constraints
| Small spaces and sometimes confined conditions | |||||
No space for automation of the logistics or internal transports | ||||||
Current buildings are not designed for automating the internal transports | ||||||
Future factory planning needs to be adapted in the future | ||||||
Legal |
Data security concerns | I4.0 | Data security | Data security | ||
Lack of support from government
| IB |
SMEs problems are human resources, capital and policy | ||||
Bureaucracy
| Bureaucracy as a hurdle for a dynamic implementation of I4.0 (certifications, customs, taxes) | |||||
Restrictive laws and regulations
| Legal restrictions | Restricted laws and regulations | ||||
Technical | Uncertainty about the reliability of the systems | I4.0 | Uncertainty about the reliability of automated transport or storage systems | |||
Weak IT infrastructure
| I4.0 | Consistency of the IT still does not exist | Integration of existing infrastructure | |||
Difficult interoperability/
compatibility
| I4.0 | Data silos without communication between each other | Old data – > need for adaption | Collaboration between SMEs and logistics companies. Each company’s system is differently interlinked | Integration of new technology with old equipment | |
Missing interfaces with suppliers | Interfaces/communication | |||||
State of machine park | Current state of the machine park | |||||
Implementation process
| Lack of methodical approach for implementation
| I4.0 | Missing toolset for the introduction of Industry 4.0 | Few best-practice-examples | What are the initial steps to improve or implement? | Lack of formalized information on Industry 4.0 implementation
|
There are no methods and approaches for the correct introduction of Industry 4.0
| Clear formulation of objectives vs. solutions | When an automatic machine is introduced. How do humans work? | ||||
Required time for implementation | I4.0 IB | Required time for implementation | Time capacities for project implementation | High tool costs and time investments | ||
The market and competition will not stop | ||||||
Be aware that time is needed to deal with it and implement industry 4.0 | ||||||
Changes required for implementing Industry 4.0
| IB | Adjustment of the company | ||||
Difficulties in demand forecasting
| Fluctuation of order volume | Difficult demand forecasting | ||||
Product characteristics
| Flexibility is the highest priority | Low quantity/frequency of orders from customers | ||||
Modification of the process according to changing customer needs (flexibility, individual products) | ||||||
Difficult use with lot size 1 or individual products |
9.5 Results
9.6 Discussion
Category | Barrier |
---|---|
Economic/financial | High investments required
|
Lack of clearly defined economic benefit
| |
Cultural | Lack of support by top management
|
Preferred autonomy
| |
Competencies/resources | Lack of skilled employees
|
Lack of technical knowledge
| |
Complexity
| |
Legal |
Data security concerns |
Technical | Weak IT infrastructure
|
Difficult interoperability/compatibility
| |
Implementation process
| Lack of methodical approach for implementation |
High coordination effort
|
Category | Barrier |
---|---|
Cultural | Lack of support from customer/supplier |
Focus on day-to-day operations | |
Awareness about the potential of robots | |
Lack of support from the IT department | |
Competencies/resources | Lack of knowledge of Industry 4.0 technologies and technical providers |
Factory layout constraints
| |
Technical | State of machine park |
Implementation process
| Required time for implementation |
Changes required for implementing Industry 4.0
| |
Difficulties in demand forecasting
| |
Product characteristics
|