Technologies, Opportunities and Challenges of the Industrial Revolution 4.0: Theoretical Considerations

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this article is to identify the impact of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) on the production processes of goods and services, their ground-breaking changes, and their potential economic, social, and political consequences.

Research Design & Methods: The article was based on available literature and online sources. The discussion of the reviewed sources leads to the formulation of three research propositions.

Findings: The technical progress that occurs in modern societies is divided into 4 phases called industrial revolutions. It is assumed that the current phase, i.e. the IR 4.0, began in 2000. It is characterized by the industrial implementation of breakthrough inventions such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, advanced robots, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing, big data, augmented/simulated reality, 3D printing, blockchain, nanomaterials, and digital twins.

Implications & Recommendations: The sooner the inventions and technological phenomena of the fourth industrial revolution will be implemented by particular economies, the sooner the economic effects of this revolution will emerge in the global economy.

Contribution & Value Added: The application of breakthrough inventions will cause revolutionary changes in the process of goods production and services, which are synthetically called an intelligent factory and an intelligent supply chain. In addition to the undoubted benefits of – primarily – technical, organizational, and economic nature, many believe that the IR 4.0 will bring threats in the form of rising unemployment, social stratification, threats to cyber security, violations of privacy, ethics, and social norms, a threat of wars based on new inventions and a growing division of the world into rich and poor countries.

Keywords

industrial revolution 4.0, breakthrough technologies, intelligent factory, intelligent supply chain, blockchain, digitization, digitalization

References

1. Benazzouz, N.M. (2018). Disruptive Innovation: A Historical Review and Recent Developments. Horizons of Politics, 9(29), 113‑130. https://doi.org/10.17399/HP.2018.092907
2. Bonnefon, J.-F., Shariff, A., & Rahwan, I. (2016). The social dilemma of autonomous vehicles. Sci-ence, 352(6293), 1573-1576. https://doi.ogr/10.1126/science
3. Burke, R., Mussomeli, A., & Laaper, S. (2017). The smart factory. Westlake: DeLoitte University Press.
4. Dhillon, V., Metcalf, D., & Hooper, M. (2018). Blockchain enabled applications : understand the blockchain ecosystem and how to make it work for you. Orlando, FL: Apress.
5. Erl, T., Mahmood Z., & Puttini, R. (2013). Cloud Computing. Boston: Prentice Hall.
6. EC (2018). Capitalising on the benefits of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Brussels: European Commis-sion.
7. Freeman, R.B. (2018). Ownership when AI robots do more of the work and earn more of the in-come. Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1108/JPEO-04-2018-0015
8. Gregor, M., Medvecky, S., Matuszek, J., & Stefanik, A. (2009). Digital Factory. Journal of Automa-tion, Mobile Robotics and Intelligent Systems, 3(3), 123-132.
9. Ghobakhloo, M. (2018). The future of manufacturing industry: a strategic roadmap toward Industry 4.0. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 29(6). https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-02-2018-0057
10. Gubbi, J., Buyya R., Marusic, S., & Palaniswami, M. (2013). Internet of Things (IoT): A vision, archi-tectural elements, and future directions. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29, 1645-1660.
11. Iansati, M., & Lakhani K.R. (2017). The Truth about Blockchain. Harvard Business Review, 95(1), 118-127.
12. Jung, T.H., & Dieck, M.C. (2017). Augmented reality, virtual reality and 3D printing for the co-creation of value for the visitor experience at cultural heritage places. Journal of Place Man-agement and Development, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMD-07-2016-0045
13. Lorenz, M., Rüßmann, M., Strack, R., Lueth K., & Bolle M. Man and Machine in Industry 4.0. Boston: Boston Consulting Group.
14. Młody, M. (2018). New production patterns and the future of manufacturing relocation trend in the 4.0 era: The perspective of consumers. International Entrepreneurship | Przedsiębiorczość Międzynarodowa, 4(3), 287-302.
15. Nowiński, W., & Kozma, M. (2017). How Can Blockchain Technology Disrupt the Existing Business Models?. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 5(3), 173-188. https://doi.org/10.15678/EBER.2017.050309
16. Pauleen, D.J., & Wang, W.Y.C. (2016). Does big data mean big knowledge? KM perspectives on big data and analytics. Journal of Knowledge Management, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-08-2016-0339
17. Petrillo, A., De Felice, F., Cioffi, R., & Zomparelli F. (2018) Fourth Industrial Revolution: Current Practices, Challenges and Opportunities. In A. Petrillo, R. Cioffi, & F. De Felice (Eds.), Digital Transformation in Smart Manufacturing. Rijeka, Croatia: InTech.
18. Pitkethly, M.J. (2004). Nanomaterials – the driving force. Materials Today, 7(12), 20-29.
19. Prisecaru, P. (2016). Challenges of the fourth industrial revolution. Knowledge Horizons – Econom-ics, 8(1) , 57-62.
20. PwC (2014). Industry 4.0 Chancen und Herausforderungen der vierten industriellen Revolution. PwC Strategy & GmbH. Retrieved from https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/media/file/Industrie-4-0.pdf on August 31, 2019.
21. Ramya, A., & Vanapalli, S. (2016). 3D printing technologies in various applications. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 7(3) 116-127.
22. Rymarczyk, J. (2012). Biznes międzynarodowy. Warszawa: PWE.
23. Sieja, M., & Wach, K. (2019). The Use of Evolutionary Algorithms for Optimization in the Modern Entrepreneurial Economy: Interdisciplinary Perspective. Entrepreneurial Business and Econom-ics Review, 7(4), 117-130. https://doi.org/10.15678/EBER.2019.070407
24. Schwab, K. (2016a). The Fourth Industrial Revolution. London: Portfolio Penguin.
25. Schwab, K. (2016b). The Fourth Industrial Revolution: What it means. New York: Crown Publishing Group.
26. Shabbir, I., & Anwer, T. (2015). Artificial Intelligence and its Role in Near Future. Journal of LATEX Class Files, 14(8), 1-10. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.01396.pdf on September 12, 2019.
27. Upadhyay, N. (2019). UnBlock the Blockchain. Singapore: Springer.
28. Warwick, K. (2012). Artificial Intelligence: The Basics. London: Routledge.
29. WEF (2017). Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on Supply Chain. Geneva: World Economic Forum.
30. Wyciślak, S. (2017). Implications of digitalization for value chains. International Entrepreneurship | Przedsiębiorczość Międzynarodowa, 3(2), 37-48.