A framework for assessing manufacturing smes industry 4.0 maturity

Abstract

Under the scenario of the fourth industrial revolution, the adoption of Industry 4.0 in the day‐to‐day business of small and medium enterprises (SME) entails expected challenges. Focusing primarily on more advanced levels of maturity, the existing maturity models are inadequate for assessing companies with low maturity levels, such as most of existing SMEs. A framework for a maturity model tailored to SMEs is proposed in this paper, allowing for a comprehensive and high granularity assessment of these companies’ maturity levels, which then eases their integration into this industrial revolution. The proposed holistic model considers all Industry 4.0 dimensions while being detailed enough in its initial levels to properly assess SMEs at the same time.