Industry 4.0 and Sustainability Implications: A Scenario-Based Analysis of the Impacts and Challenges

By Silvia Helena Bonilla, H. Silva, Marcia Terra da Silva, Rodrigo Franco Gonçalves, J. Sacomano. Sustainability, 2018

476 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The new evolution of the production and industrial process called Industry 4.0, and its related technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data analytics, and cyber–physical systems, among others, still have an unknown potential impact on sustainability and the environment. In this paper, we conduct a literature-based analysis to discuss the sustainability impact and challenges of Industry 4.0 from four different scenarios: deployment, operation and technologies, integration and compliance with the sustainable development goals, and long-run scenarios. From these scenarios, our analysis resulted in positive or negative impacts related to the basic production inputs and outputs flows: raw material, energy and information consumption and product and waste disposal. As the main results, we identified both positive and negative expected impacts, with some predominance of positives that can be considered positive secondary effects derived from Industry 4.0 activities. However, only through integrating Industry 4.0 with the sustainable development goals in an eco-innovation platform, can it really ensure environmental performance. It is expected that this work can contribute to helping stakeholders, practitioners and governments to advance solutions to deal with the outcomes emerging through the massive adoption of those technologies, as well as supporting the expected positive impacts through policies and financial initiatives.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/76c06dec671e12949a18be18c56f0427fcfd65b6

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Electrical and Electronic Engineering

In Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

In Strategy and Management

Citations in the corpus

The applications of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing context: a systematic literature review (2020, background): “According to Bonilla et al. (2018), although the implementation of IoT may increase the energy flow in manufacturing, it could also provide reliable data about energy flow, facilitating BDA technologies in combination with energy optimisation algorithms to offset and partially reduce energy…”
Industry 4.0 as an enabler of sustainability diffusion in supply chain: an analysis of influential strength of drivers in an emerging economy (2019, background): “Bonilla et al. (2018) stated that governmental policies play a key role in supporting business organisations and providing the necessary support in the implementation of I4.”
From Industry 4.0 towards Industry 5.0: A Review and Analysis of Paradigm Shift for the People, Organization and Technology (2022, background): “This opens a question: To what extent do industrial paradigms affect environmental sustainability, and is society prepared to deal with those challenges [94]?”
Problems with the Implementation of Industry 4.0 in Enterprises from the SME Sector (2019, background): “0 model highlights the importance of this topic, as well as various aspects that can be reliably resolved [21].”
Blockchain technology in supply chain management for sustainable performance: Evidence from the airport industry (2020, unknown): “Therefore, economic, financial, social, and environmental components are sometimes in conflict from the sustainable performance perspective (Boons & Wagner, 2009; Boons, Montalvo, Quist, & Wagner, 2013; Pullman, Maloni, & Carter, 2009; Spreitzer & Porath, 2012).”
Development of a Risk Framework for Industry 4.0 in the Context of Sustainability for Established Manufacturers (2019, background): “This leads to an additional load of electronic waste [98].”