Industry 4.0 technologies: critical success factors for implementation and improvements in manufacturing companies

The impact of Industry 4.0 and its opportunities are expected to be significant for manufacturers. A lack of empirical studies creates the need for academic contributions on the critical success factors of Industry 4.0 implementations and their resultant improvements for manufacturing businesses. This research uses case studies of eight implementations of Industry 4.0 technologies in Italy to supplement existent literature. An original data set was constructed using a purposely defined research protocol using plant visits and structured interviews. Continuous improvement/lean management emerged as a critical success factor for implementation, together with quality and flexibility-based competition, top management leadership, establishment of inter-functional teams, conducting of preparatory activities, project planning and training activities. Incremental/evolutionary and radical/revolutionary improvements in business model elements are possible outcomes of implementations, while addressing customers' needs emerges as an antecedent to radical/revolutionary improvements. Managers will benefit from understanding how to achieve successful implementations and business improvements.