The Big Potential of Big Data in Manufacturing: Evidence from Emerging Economies

Abstract

In the last years, the manufacturing sector of developed economies is going through extensive changes to adopt Industry 4.0 principles. Prior studies investigated key enabling technologies for Industry 4.0 and their applications focusing on developed economies. However, there is a lack of studies covering emerging economies (e.g., Serbia). This research provides an overview of the use of technologies for automatic storing of operational data and the exchange of operational data between different entities from the manufacturing sector. For this purpose, the Serbian dataset of 240 companies from the European Manufacturing Survey gathered in 2018 is used. The empirical results indicate that 43% of manufacturing companies are utilizing the systems that automatically record operational data, 88.3% of manufacturing companies are creating an immense amount of data through ERP systems, and 78.6% of companies are using a digital exchange with suppliers or customers. The results reveal the big potential for the Big Data in the manufacturing sector in emerging economies.