Fundamental pillars for industry 4.0 development: implementation framework and challenges in manufacturing environment

At the present time, Industry 4.0 has proven its effectiveness and significance in automation and data exchange within industries across different sectors worldwide. In the current literature, there is still a lack of research on adopting Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing setting in developing economies. The main purpose of the present study is to explore the fundamental pillars and framework for ease of adoption of Industry 4.0 in manufacturing environments, along with highlighting the benefits and challenges.

In this study, a systematic literature review has been conducted through protocol, search, appraisal, synthesis, analysis, report (PSALSAR) model. In the literature, the articles are included within time span of 2008–2022, consisting keywords like Industry 4.0, blockchain, machine learning, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, 3D printing, big data analytics, etc. Based on available literature, conceptual implementation framework of Industry 4.0 is proposed.

This study explored the key ingredients that play an essential role to bridge the gap and construct a strong relationship among physical and cyber world. The results reveals that the emerging technologies such as IoT, blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, 3D printing, big-data analytics, cloud-computing join hands to accomplish success in Industry 4.0 by reducing human interference for effective and efficient systems. In addition, the study also explored the possible benefits of emerging technologies with challenges faced by manufacturing setting during adaptation of Industry 4.0.

As per the authors' best knowledge, no research articles are found in literature which explore various emerging technologies in Industry 4.0 with its implementation framework in the manufacturing setting in developing economies. The main focus of the present study is to discover the literature review in defined area and find the research gap among current scenario and future trend for execution of Industry 4.0 in manufacturing environment.