Enhancing manufacturing efficiency - A Lean Industry 4.0 approach to retrofitting

Abstract

Industry 4.0 technologies are already affecting global supply chains by revolutionizing how companies manufacture and distribute their products and services. Many companies are affected by this transformation, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are keen to enhance their market competitiveness as quickly and easily as possible. The transformation from traditional approaches to Industry 4.0 can bring many benefits, however, this transition involves adopting technologically advanced machinery with a high level of digitalization and communication. The cost and time to replace old machines could be unsustainable for many SMEs and that is why these enterprises seek alternative solutions for the digitalization of their legacy machines, such as retrofitting. This paper conducts a review of both retrofitting and Lean Industry 4.0 (Lean 4.0) to identify the challenges and benefits of both concepts and explore how they can interact and merge with each other to help SMEs to increase their market competitiveness.