Industry 4.0 application adoption and implementation in UK infrastructure sector: Change management strategies

This is a paper that has been accepted for publication in the conference proceedings of the BAM2022 Conference, 31st August-2nd September, 2022, Alliance Manchester Business School.There has been a major focus on the improvement of productivity within the infrastructure sector through the use of Internet of Things (IOT) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). These concepts have been proven to reduce the time of processing data while enhancing the communication between the parties within the organisation overall improving productivity. There has been plentiful research on modern technologies and processes such as the Building Information Model (BIM) which has indicated a promising method of positively influencing the cost issues through taking advantage of the constructions design. The UK government has invested a great amount into the UK infrastructure over the next couple of years, with this investment, standards were set by the Government which led to the introduction of the Building Information Model plus more strategic automated processes within the industry. Despite automated processes being introduced, the infrastructure sector are still yet to fully adopt and implement Industry 4.0 applications. There has been a number of publications on the topic Industry 4.0, however its relation to the infrastructure sector has a major lack of research. For this research study, case study methodology approach was adopted as there is lack of academic research on the topic. Ten semi-structured interviews were undertaken and a total number of five organisations took part in this study. Clients have been increasingly asking for more automated processes in order to increase efficiencies and improve productivity which is a benefit for them. One of the main key change management strategies adopted found in this research is training and upskilling of staff within the industry. It is concluded that he industry as a whole should implement Business models for their organisations highlighting key Industry 4.0 agenda and adoption and implementation guidance