IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i9p3647-d353078.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Advantages of Industry 4.0 Applications for Sustainability: Results from a Sample of Manufacturing Companies

Author

Listed:
  • Riccardo Brozzi

    (Fraunhofer Italia Research s.c.a.r.l., A.-Volta-Str. 13/A, 39100 Bolzano, Italy)

  • David Forti

    (Fraunhofer Italia Research s.c.a.r.l., A.-Volta-Str. 13/A, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
    Industrial Engineering and Automation (IEA), Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Universitätsplatz 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy)

  • Erwin Rauch

    (Industrial Engineering and Automation (IEA), Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Universitätsplatz 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy)

  • Dominik T. Matt

    (Fraunhofer Italia Research s.c.a.r.l., A.-Volta-Str. 13/A, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
    Industrial Engineering and Automation (IEA), Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Universitätsplatz 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy)

Abstract

Far from being exclusively related to economic considerations, the advantages of Industry 4.0 applications also include environmental and social concerns. An increasing amount of scientific publications relate the implementation of the fourth industrial revolution paradigm to sustainability. Several studies reported opportunities of Industry 4.0 implementation particularly to the environmental dimension of sustainability, e.g., through improved logistics streams and lowered waste from production. The present research aims at providing evidence on whether manufacturing companies consider Industry 4.0 implementation as an advantage contributing to environmental and social sustainability in terms of lower environmental impact of production, as well as higher physical relief for workers and flexibility of work organisation. The results were an attempt to study such relations with company sizes, industry sectors, turnover and self-assessed levels of digitalization varying. The sample encompasses 65 companies located in the Marche region (Italy). The results show that overall the perception of economic opportunities prevail, while the association of a beneficial impact of Industry 4.0 on environmental sustainability is rather low across companies, regardless of their size, turnover and digital level. As for the statistically significant variables, the results suggest a strong association of the size and the digital level to specific Industry 4.0 related advantages, referring to the social and economic dimension of sustainability, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Riccardo Brozzi & David Forti & Erwin Rauch & Dominik T. Matt, 2020. "The Advantages of Industry 4.0 Applications for Sustainability: Results from a Sample of Manufacturing Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3647-:d:353078
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3647/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3647/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yongxin Liao & Fernando Deschamps & Eduardo de Freitas Rocha Loures & Luiz Felipe Pierin Ramos, 2017. "Past, present and future of Industry 4.0 - a systematic literature review and research agenda proposal," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(12), pages 3609-3629, June.
    2. Alexandre Moeuf & Robert Pellerin & Samir Lamouri & Simon Tamayo-Giraldo & Rodolphe Barbaray, 2018. "The industrial management of SMEs in the era of Industry 4.0," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(3), pages 1118-1136, February.
    3. Jesko Schulte & Sophie Isaksson Hallstedt, 2018. "Self-Assessment Method for Sustainability Implementation in Product Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-24, November.
    4. Dalenogare, Lucas Santos & Benitez, Guilherme Brittes & Ayala, Néstor Fabián & Frank, Alejandro Germán, 2018. "The expected contribution of Industry 4.0 technologies for industrial performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 383-394.
    5. Kai Ding & Pingyu Jiang & Mei Zheng, 2017. "Environmental and economic sustainability-aware resource service scheduling for industrial product service systems," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 28(6), pages 1303-1316, August.
    6. Jian Zhang & Guofu Ding & Yisheng Zou & Shengfeng Qin & Jianlin Fu, 2019. "Review of job shop scheduling research and its new perspectives under Industry 4.0," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 1809-1830, April.
    7. de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes & Jabbour, Charbel Jose Chiappetta & Foropon, Cyril & Godinho Filho, Moacir, 2018. "When titans meet – Can industry 4.0 revolutionise the environmentally-sustainable manufacturing wave? The role of critical success factors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 18-25.
    8. Lia Tirabeni & Paola De Bernardi & Canio Forliano & Mattia Franco, 2019. "How Can Organisations and Business Models Lead to a More Sustainable Society? A Framework from a Systematic Review of the Industry 4.0," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-23, November.
    9. Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 2010. "Building Sustainable Organizations: The Human Factor," Research Papers 2017r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    10. Qiu, Xuan & Luo, Hao & Xu, Gangyan & Zhong, Runyang & Huang, George Q., 2015. "Physical assets and service sharing for IoT-enabled Supply Hub in Industrial Park (SHIP)," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 4-15.
    11. Büchi, Giacomo & Cugno, Monica & Castagnoli, Rebecca, 2020. "Smart factory performance and Industry 4.0," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Frey, Carl Benedikt & Osborne, Michael A., 2017. "The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 254-280.
    13. Zhong, Ray Y. & Huang, George Q. & Lan, Shulin & Dai, Q.Y. & Chen, Xu & Zhang, T., 2015. "A big data approach for logistics trajectory discovery from RFID-enabled production data," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 260-272.
    14. Guilherme Luz Tortorella & Diego Fettermann, 2018. "Implementation of Industry 4.0 and lean production in Brazilian manufacturing companies," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(8), pages 2975-2987, April.
    15. Benedikt G. Mark & Sarah Hofmayer & Erwin Rauch & Dominik T. Matt, 2019. "Inclusion of Workers with Disabilities in Production 4.0: Legal Foundations in Europe and Potentials Through Worker Assistance Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-21, October.
    16. Beate Littig & Erich Griessler, 2005. "Social sustainability: a catchword between political pragmatism and social theory," International Journal of Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(1/2), pages 65-79.
    17. Gebler, Malte & Schoot Uiterkamp, Anton J.M. & Visser, Cindy, 2014. "A global sustainability perspective on 3D printing technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 158-167.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sreenivasan Jayashree & Mohammad Nurul Hassan Reza & Chinnasamy Agamudai Nambi Malarvizhi & Hesti Maheswari & Zohre Hosseini & Azilah Kasim, 2021. "The Impact of Technological Innovation on Industry 4.0 Implementation and Sustainability: An Empirical Study on Malaysian Small and Medium Sized Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-23, September.
    2. Agnieszka A. Tubis & Katarzyna Grzybowska, 2022. "In Search of Industry 4.0 and Logistics 4.0 in Small-Medium Enterprises—A State of the Art Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-26, November.
    3. Paolo Morganti & Rosa Carolina Valdes, 2023. "The Perils of Asymmetrical Technological Changes in a Knowledge Economy with Complete Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-17, August.
    4. Marek Ondov & Andrea Rosova & Marian Sofranko & Jan Feher & Jozef Cambal & Erika Feckova Skrabulakova, 2022. "Redesigning the Production Process Using Simulation for Sustainable Development of the Enterprise," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-21, January.
    5. Axenbeck, Janna & Niebel, Thomas, 2021. "Climate Protection Potentials of Digitalized Production Processes: Microeconometric Evidence," 23rd ITS Biennial Conference, Online Conference / Gothenburg 2021. Digital societies and industrial transformations: Policies, markets, and technologies in a post-Covid world 238007, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    6. Bartlomiej Gladysz & Krzysztof Krystosiak & Krzysztof Ejsmont & Aldona Kluczek & Aleksander Buczacki, 2021. "Sustainable Printing 4.0—Insights from a Polish Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-20, September.
    7. Artur Pollak & Agata Hilarowicz & Maciej Walczak & Damian Gąsiorek, 2020. "A Framework of Action for Implementation of Industry 4.0. an Empirically Based Research," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-16, July.
    8. Piccarozzi, Michela & Silvestri, Cecilia & Aquilani, Barbara & Silvestri, Luca, 2022. "Is this a new story of the ‘Two Giants’? A systematic literature review of the relationship between industry 4.0, sustainability and its pillars," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    9. Jaroslav Vrchota & Martin Pech & Ladislav Rolínek & Jiří Bednář, 2020. "Sustainability Outcomes of Green Processes in Relation to Industry 4.0 in Manufacturing: Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-47, July.
    10. John Mugambwa Serumaga-Zake & John Andrew van der Poll, 2021. "Addressing the Impact of Fourth Industrial Revolution on South African Manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-31, October.
    11. Jaroslav Vrchota & Petr Řehoř & Monika Maříková & Martin Pech, 2020. "Critical Success Factors of the Project Management in Relation to Industry 4.0 for Sustainability of Projects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Thaís Vieira Nunhes & Enzo Viviani Garcia & Maximilian Espuny & Vitor Homem de Mello Santos & Raine Isaksson & Otávio José de Oliveira, 2021. "Where to Go with Corporate Sustainability? Opening Paths for Sustainable Businesses through the Collaboration between Universities, Governments, and Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-31, January.
    13. Wieslaw Urban & Krzysztof Łukaszewicz & Elżbieta Krawczyk-Dembicka, 2020. "Application of Industry 4.0 to the Product Development Process in Project-Type Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, October.
    14. Axenbeck, Janna & Berner, Anne & Kneib, Thomas, 2022. "What drives the relationship between digitalization and industrial energy demand? Exploring firm-level heterogeneity," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-059, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Zbigniew Leszczyński & Tomasz Jasiński, 2020. "Comparison of Product Life Cycle Cost Estimating Models Based on Neural Networks and Parametric Techniques—A Case Study for Induction Motors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-14, October.
    16. Aaldering, Lukas Jan & Song, Chie Hoon, 2021. "Of leaders and laggards - Towards digitalization of the process industries," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    17. Sittiporn Pimsakul & Premaratne Samaranayake & Tritos Laosirihongthong, 2021. "Prioritizing Enabling Factors of IoT Adoption for Sustainability in Supply Chain Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-22, November.
    18. Bartoloni, Sara & Calò, Ernesto & Marinelli, Luca & Pascucci, Federica & Dezi, Luca & Carayannis, Elias & Revel, Gian Marco & Gregori, Gian Luca, 2022. "Towards designing society 5.0 solutions: The new Quintuple Helix - Design Thinking approach to technology," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    19. Tahera Kalsoom & Shehzad Ahmed & Piyya Muhammad Rafi-ul-Shan & Muhammad Azmat & Pervaiz Akhtar & Zeeshan Pervez & Muhammad Ali Imran & Masood Ur-Rehman, 2021. "Impact of IoT on Manufacturing Industry 4.0: A New Triangular Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-22, November.
    20. Luboš Červený & Roman Sloup & Tereza Červená & Marcel Riedl & Petra Palátová, 2022. "Industry 4.0 as an Opportunity and Challenge for the Furniture Industry—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-21, October.
    21. Joan Torrent‐Sellens & Pilar Ficapal‐Cusí & Mihaela Enache‐Zegheru, 2023. "Boosting environmental management: The mediating role of Industry 4.0 between environmental assets and economic and social firm performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 753-768, January.
    22. José Salvador da Motta Reis & Maximilian Espuny & Thaís Vieira Nunhes & Nilo Antonio de Souza Sampaio & Raine Isaksson & Fernando Celso de Campos & Otávio José de Oliveira, 2021. "Striding towards Sustainability: A Framework to Overcome Challenges and Explore Opportunities through Industry 4.0," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-28, May.
    23. Radosław Miśkiewicz & Radosław Wolniak, 2020. "Practical Application of the Industry 4.0 Concept in a Steel Company," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-21, July.
    24. Xiaoxia Chen & Mélanie Despeisse & Björn Johansson, 2020. "Environmental Sustainability of Digitalization in Manufacturing: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-31, December.
    25. Qi Wang & Shuo Wang & Si Fu, 2023. "A Sustainable Iterative Product Design Method Based on Considering User Needs from Online Reviews," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Battaglia, Daniele & Galati, Francesco & Molinaro, Margherita & Pessot, Elena, 2023. "Full, hybrid and platform complementarity: Exploring the industry 4.0 technology-performance link," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    2. Gillani, Fatima & Chatha, Kamran Ali & Sadiq Jajja, Muhammad Shakeel & Farooq, Sami, 2020. "Implementation of digital manufacturing technologies: Antecedents and consequences," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    3. Mariani, Marcello & Borghi, Matteo, 2019. "Industry 4.0: A bibliometric review of its managerial intellectual structure and potential evolution in the service industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    4. Daniel Kiel & Julian M. Müller & Christian Arnold & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2017. "Sustainable Industrial Value Creation: Benefits And Challenges Of Industry 4.0," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(08), pages 1-34, December.
    5. Andreas Felsberger & Gerald Reiner, 2020. "Sustainable Industry 4.0 in Production and Operations Management: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-39, September.
    6. Hendrik S. Birkel & Johannes W. Veile & Julian M. Müller & Evi Hartmann & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2019. "Development of a Risk Framework for Industry 4.0 in the Context of Sustainability for Established Manufacturers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-27, January.
    7. Laubengaier, Désirée A. & Cagliano, Raffaella & Canterino, Filomena, 2022. "It Takes Two to Tango: Analyzing the Relationship between Technological and Administrative Process Innovations in Industry 4.0," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    8. Culot, Giovanna & Orzes, Guido & Sartor, Marco & Nassimbeni, Guido, 2020. "The future of manufacturing: A Delphi-based scenario analysis on Industry 4.0," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    9. Simonetto, Marco & Sgarbossa, Fabio & Battini, Daria & Govindan, Kannan, 2022. "Closed loop supply chains 4.0: From risks to benefits through advanced technologies. A literature review and research agenda," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    10. Veepan Kumar & Prem Vrat & Ravi Shankar, 2021. "Prioritization of strategies to overcome the barriers in Industry 4.0: a hybrid MCDM approach," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 58(3), pages 711-750, September.
    11. Gilberto Santos & Jose Carlos Sá & Maria João Félix & Luís Barreto & Filipe Carvalho & Manuel Doiro & Kristína Zgodavová & Miladin Stefanović, 2021. "New Needed Quality Management Skills for Quality Managers 4.0," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-22, May.
    12. Bai, Chunguang & Dallasega, Patrick & Orzes, Guido & Sarkis, Joseph, 2020. "Industry 4.0 technologies assessment: A sustainability perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    13. Rafael, Lizarralde Dorronsoro & Jaione, Ganzarain Epelde & Cristina, López & Ibon, Serrano Lasa, 2020. "An Industry 4.0 maturity model for machine tool companies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    14. Emanuele Gabriel Margherita & Alessio Maria Braccini, 2023. "Industry 4.0 Technologies in Flexible Manufacturing for Sustainable Organizational Value: Reflections from a Multiple Case Study of Italian Manufacturers," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 995-1016, June.
    15. Dashi Nazarov & Anton Klarin, 2020. "Taxonomy of Industry 4.0 research: Mapping scholarship and industry insights," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 535-556, July.
    16. Cugno, Monica & Castagnoli, Rebecca & Büchi, Giacomo, 2021. "Openness to Industry 4.0 and performance: The impact of barriers and incentives," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    17. Gábor Szabó-Szentgróti & Bence Végvári & József Varga, 2021. "Impact of Industry 4.0 and Digitization on Labor Market for 2030-Verification of Keynes’ Prediction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    18. Julian Marius Müller & Daniel Kiel & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2018. "What Drives the Implementation of Industry 4.0? The Role of Opportunities and Challenges in the Context of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, January.
    19. Kristoffersen, Eivind & Blomsma, Fenna & Mikalef, Patrick & Li, Jingyue, 2020. "The smart circular economy: A digital-enabled circular strategies framework for manufacturing companies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 241-261.
    20. Calabrese, Armando & Costa, Roberta & Tiburzi, Luigi & Brem, Alexander, 2023. "Merging two revolutions: A human-artificial intelligence method to study how sustainability and Industry 4.0 are intertwined," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3647-:d:353078. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.