Does Industry 4.0 Pose a Challenge for the SME Machine Builder? A Case Study and Reflection of Readiness for a UK SME

Part 4: Digital Technologies and Industry 4.0 ApplicationsInternational audienceTQC is a special purpose machinery builder. We became aware of the Industry 4.0 concepts and decided to investigate whether we were already pre-pared for what has been termed the fourth industrial revolution, or whether there were new concepts and practices that our company should adopt.This paper shows the process through which we evaluated the aspects related to the Industry 4.0 definitions. We dissected the various core concepts and then expanded the process to cover the nine pillars on which Industry 4.0 is built. We assessed ourselves against each significant element to see if we understood the concepts and requirements. We asked if these aspects were relevant to our business, we assessed whether our experience and actions to date covered the core of each element. We also looked at the challenges Industry 4.0 poses for the future of our business.This paper is a review of the process and it presents our findings