DIGITAL DETERMINANTS FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 READINESS: SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING

The COVID pandemic revealed the susceptibilities in manufacturing systems globally. Small and Medium-sized Manufacturers (SMM) are hugely impacted compared to multinational counterparts. SMM falls below certain assets, revenue, and employee thresholds but plays a key role in the stability of the global economy. Hence, sustainable practices are not only relevant to large manufacturing enterprises. Industry 4.0 enables the digital realization and management of sustainable manufacturing systems with new possibilities. This paper aims to investigate the digital determinants for industry 4.0 readiness. A mixed-method approach is considered to structure the investigations that facilitate simulating the digital determinants for Industry 4.0 readiness among small and medium-sized manufacturers. Simulation provides a tool suitable to investigate how a process may function as applicable in real-world scenarios. Specifically, a System Dynamics Model (SDM) is developed as a basis of the methodology and quantitative technique for the strategy development. The SDM promotes for effective feedback framework facilitating decision-making in establishing the context of this investigation. The use of a SDM provides originality to this investigation in comparison to current emerging research in a similar investigative context. The outputs from this paper demonstrate the suitability of the industry 4.0 concept specifically simulation to provide tactical and strategic business decision support for Small and Medium-sized manufacturers. The novelty in this paper allows for given sets of digital determinants in Small and Medium-sized manufacturers to be captured heterogeneously, connected, and recreated to interact with a capacity to transmit information and modify behaviors.