Integration and Scale in the Context of Industry 4.0: The Evolving Shapes of Manufacturing Value Chains

The historical evolution of manufacturing value chains (VCs) has evolved in parallel with the opportunities offered by automation and communication technologies. Since the mid-1980s, advances in telecommunications simplified the coordination of production and related activities, resulting in organizational specialization on single VC activities, while being geographically dispersed. A new wave of innovation is impacting business and society today; the “Industry 4.0”. The impact on VC configuration is not yet clear. Some trajectories are taking shape. This paper focuses on the potential for Industry 4.0 for integration - activities to internalize or externalize - and scale advantages. Using an extensive literature review of academic and industry studies, complemented with insights gathered through expert workshops with managers and entrepreneurs, we present a set of five possible future trajectories supported by some practical examples.