The Impact of Industry 4.0 Paradigm on the Pharmaceutical Industry in Portugal

Technological evolution has continuously driven the development of industries and consequently of society. The fourth industrial revolution consists in the combination of a set of physical and digital technologies that has been changing systems’ operations within industries.

The pharmaceutical industry has a considerable impact on well-being and has been strongly challenged with this new reality, not only by those that are transversal to all industries but also due to the fact that it is a highly regulated sector, which creates additional barriers for industry 4.0 (I4.0) initiative’s implementation. However, it is due to the fact that this revolution provides high growth opportunities to the industry, and consequently for the improvement of population’s quality of life, that this topic has been subject to so much research at a global level. This study’s main purpose is to understand the impact of I4.0 paradigm implementation in the pharmaceutical industry (mainly in the production area), to analyze the technological readiness of Portuguese pharmaceutical companies to implement I4.0 technologies and to understand the role of the I4.0 paradigm to fight the pandemic situation caused by the COVID-19. To achieve this purpose, an exploratory multiple-case study based on semi-structured interviews was conducted in two Portuguese pharmaceutical companies. It is expected that the results of this work lead to recommendations that help the Portuguese pharmaceutical industry to be better prepared to face the challenges that are coming with this revolution.