Implementation of Industry 4.0 in Germany, Brazil and Portugal: Barriers and Benefits

Abstract

Industry 4.0 is a subject that has attracted the interests of researches worldwide for its ability to achieve productivity gains and to provide competitiveness to the companies. Although much research has been done on technical studies, little attention has been paid to the challenges that decision-makers, executives and managers face to implement the concepts of Industry 4.0 in their companies. This research was based on secondary data, involving a research made with 246 companies in Brazil, 287 in Germany and 72 in Portugal, which studied the internal and external obstacles and expectations of these 605 companies. The originality and practical implication of this research is to compare these three countries, studying common and different points to implement the concepts of Industry 4.0, so researchers can conduct their studies to try to provide answers to practical expectations, linking research to practice.