The breadth of Industry 4.0 technologies : factory level dynamic capabilities as antecedents and competitive advantage as outcome

Abstract

Technology usage and diversity in factories is nothing new but reaching a point of exponential growth given the continuous commercialisation of better I4.0 technology. These technologies include a growing array of I4.0 ICT, production, and cyber technologies, often deployed by factories in bundles to ensure competitive advantage. Using the theory of dynamic capability second-order integration capabilities were studied as antecedents to the breadth of these I4.0 technologies, examined as a first-order capability. The study examined design-manufacturing integration, manufacturing-strategy integration, and systems integration as second-order integration capabilities. Also, the study examined the link between the breadth of I4.0 technologies and the level of automation, production cost, emission rate, and schedule attainment of the factory as indicators of competitive advantage. A systematic literature review on the implementation of I4.0 was conducted followed by a pilot study of five semi-structured interviews with industry experts to shape the conceptual model. A survey of senior managers from 320 UK factories was carried out using web-based distribution and data collection to test the model. The results indicated second-order integration capability of design manufacturing integration and systems integration to act as antecedents to factory manager’s first-order capability of adopting and using the breadth of I4.0 technologies at the factory. Manufacturing-strategy integration was not fount to impact the breadth of I4.0 technologies. This study further found the breadth of I4.0 technologies to have a positively and significantly impact the level of automation, emission rate, and schedule attainment of the factory. The breadth of I4.0 technologies was not found to impact production cost. This study contributed to empirically measuring nine diverse I4.0 technologies used at the factory and added to the dynamic capability literature on the dynamic between second and first order capabilities and the benefits for competitive advantage at the factory unit-of-analysis.