SMEs, Barriers and Opportunities on adopting Industry 4.0: A Review.

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) enables SMEs to enhance their manufacturing capabilities and compete globally through the deployment of cutting-edge technologies. This review identifies the barriers and opportunities of adopting industry 4.0 in the manufacturing sector in developed vs. developing countries. In total, 54 studies met the screening criteria. The synthesized factors were classified into dimensions to helps the understanding of what type of difficulties SMEs face in the transition to the 4.0 generation. This study found that developing countries face more barriers but also perceive more opportunities in relation to industry 4.0. Organizational barriers and technical Barriers have been the main types of barriers studied in both sets of countries. In terms of benefits, studies have emphasized 1) gains in terms of operations management, and 2) questions related to market, sustainability and supply chain management.