A Graph-Theoretic Approach to Evaluate the Intensity of Barriers in the Implementation of Industry 4.0

Abstract

Industry 4.0 is seen as a relatively new concept with regard to developing nations like India. It is, however, recognized as an innovative approach for ensuring competitiveness and sustainability in manufacturing according to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) perspective. But the practitioners are not endorsing the concept with much enthusiasm due to numerous barriers across the different segments of the manufacturing sector. Therefore, determining the essence and impact of these barriers is essential so that practitioners can devise appropriate mitigation strategies. In this direction, an attempt has been made to evaluate the intensity of barriers in the implementation of Industry 4.0 by using a graph-theoretic approach (GTA). Based on this methodology, a single numerical index value (i.e. I4.0BII) (Industry 4.0 Barrier Intensity Index) has been calculated to evaluate the intensity (or overall impact) of the barriers with respect to the considered case company. The GTA results revealed that the case company is most significantly impacted by organization-related barriers, strategic barriers, and technology-oriented barriers. In contrast, it is least affected by ethical and regulatory barriers and socio-cultural barriers. Furthermore, the scenario analysis was conducted to develop a scale that would assist practitioners in evaluating and benchmarking the implementation of Industry 4.0. It was observed from the developed scale that the case company was placed under the category “partially ready to meet the expectations of Industry 4.0” with a normalized I4.0BII value proportional to 0.78. The case company practitioners need to concentrate on those barriers which have a high I4.0BII value, and accordingly, strategies can be developed to mitigate their hindering impacts.