State of the art review on Industry 4.0 in manufacturing with the focus on automotive sector

Purpose The manufacturing domain presently focusing on Industry 4.0 (I4.0). One such domain is the automotive sector. The purpose of this study is to analyse the I4.0 research studies with a focus on the automotive sector using a systematic literature review (SLR). Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a SLR of previous studies on I4.0 characteristics from its inception to performance measures focusing on the automotive sector. A total of 90 papers published in reputed journals during 2014-2020 were collected from major publishers, namely, Elsevier, Springer, Taylor and Francis, Emerald, Institute of Electrical and Electronics, MDPI, etc. Findings The findings of the study provided vital insights on various perspectives of I4.0 in an automotive organization. Moreover, this systematic analysis would help the automotive industry policymakers in implementing I4.0 in an organization. Based on the SLR, a conceptual framework is established to guide industry practitioners towards I4.0 implementation. The review findings could be used to carry out future studies in assessing the readiness of I4.0 in the organization with the help of a survey Research limitations/implications The limitation of the study is in the adoption of the sampling approach. In the present study, conference papers and refereed journals have been considered based on the relevance of I4.0 in the automotive industry. As I4.0 is a growing concept, non-refereed articles, book chapters and white papers may cover practical aspects regarding I4.0 implementation that need to be considered for depth analysis. Moreover, the framework needs to be validated with various automotive industries for ensuring practical validity. Originality/value The unique contribution of the study is the SLR of I4.0 in manufacturing with a focus on the automotive sector.