On the tide of the fourth industrial revolution, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly adopting digital solutions. Industry 4.0 is arising new challenges and opportunities for the most part to manufacturing companies, radically transforming their business and operating models. Interoperability is the key word of Industry 4.0 in which objects, people, machinery and factories are connected among each other through the internet. In this context, Italian SMEs present different attitudes towards digital transformation as well as peculiar ways to embody digitalisation processes. Still, digital readiness present substantial gaps while comparing large enterprises and SMEs. Uncertainty, scepticism, lack of financial resources and capabilities are the key constraints for SMEs to approach a complete digital path. As the driving engine of the Italian and the European economy, SMEs should be guided with a structured methodology along with digital roadmaps. Besides, the pervasiveness of such a digital transition is soaring considerably, arising big concerns among SMEs. On the basis of these preliminary considerations, several questions arose concerning the way to achieve excellent performances while transforming a company from a digital point of view and to design and implement efficient and effective strategic industrial digital to be integrated with traditional business strategies. While answering to these questions three primary aspects of the master thesis are analysed, namely, digitalisation, Industry 4.0 and organisational aspect of the digital transformation. Besides, a critical analysis on the main features of Italian SMEs is performed with the aim of understanding their key success factors (as well as their main limitations). This theoretical background – combined with the results deriving from several cases studies – served as input for developing a comprehensive strategic digital roadmap designed specifically for manufacturing SMEs. The implementation of the model provides theoretical evidence and practical demonstration with the objective of supporting SMEs in finding their own identity while launching Industry 4.0 programs.
Sull’onda della quarta rivoluzione industriale, le piccole e medie imprese (PMI) stanno adottando sempre più spesso soluzioni digitali. L’industria 4.0 sta dando forma a nuove sfide ed opportunità, in particolar modo per le aziende manifatturiere, trasformando radicalmente i loro modelli operativi e di business. Interoperabilità è la parola chiave dell’Industria 4.0 dove oggetti, persone, macchinari e fabbriche interagiscono tra loro attraverso la rete internet. A tal riguardo le PMI presentano differenti orientamenti in merito alla trasformazione digitale ed altrettanti modi diversi di intraprendere i percorsi di digitalizzazione. Ciò che stupisce è la differenza in termini di prontezza digitale tra le grandi imprese e le PMI. L'incertezza, lo scetticismo, la mancanza di risorse finanziarie e competenze sono gli ostacoli principali che le PMI devono affrontare al fine di avviare un completo percorso digitale. Esse perciò, in quanto motore trainante dell’economia italiana ed europea, dovrebbero essere accompagnate in tali percorsi con una metodologia chiara e ben strutturata. Infine, bisogna tenere conto che il passo della trasformazione digitale sta crescendo notevolmente negli anni, suscitando forti preoccupazioni tra le PMI. Sulla base di queste considerazioni, sono emersi diversi interrogativi su come ottenere il massimo da una trasformazione digitale e progettare e realizzare un piano industriale strategico, da integrare alle tradizionali strategie di business. Cercando di rispondere a tali quesiti sono stati analizzati tre concetti chiave: digitalizzazione, Industria 4.0 ed aspetti organizzativi della trasformazione digitale. Inoltre, tramite una dettagliata analisi delle caratteristiche principali delle PMI italiane è stato possibile comprendere i principali fattori di successo (nonché i principali limiti). La base teorica, combinata con i risultati ottenuti da alcuni casi studio, è servita da input per lo sviluppo di un percorso strategico digitale, in particolar modo adatto alle PMI operanti nel settore manifatturiero. Il modello sviluppato fornisce prove teoriche e dimostrazioni pratiche per supportarle nei percorsi di digitalizzazione.
Digitalisation, Industry 4.0 and organisational implications : an analysis of Italian SMEs
Esposito, Matteo
2019/2020
Abstract
On the tide of the fourth industrial revolution, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly adopting digital solutions. Industry 4.0 is arising new challenges and opportunities for the most part to manufacturing companies, radically transforming their business and operating models. Interoperability is the key word of Industry 4.0 in which objects, people, machinery and factories are connected among each other through the internet. In this context, Italian SMEs present different attitudes towards digital transformation as well as peculiar ways to embody digitalisation processes. Still, digital readiness present substantial gaps while comparing large enterprises and SMEs. Uncertainty, scepticism, lack of financial resources and capabilities are the key constraints for SMEs to approach a complete digital path. As the driving engine of the Italian and the European economy, SMEs should be guided with a structured methodology along with digital roadmaps. Besides, the pervasiveness of such a digital transition is soaring considerably, arising big concerns among SMEs. On the basis of these preliminary considerations, several questions arose concerning the way to achieve excellent performances while transforming a company from a digital point of view and to design and implement efficient and effective strategic industrial digital to be integrated with traditional business strategies. While answering to these questions three primary aspects of the master thesis are analysed, namely, digitalisation, Industry 4.0 and organisational aspect of the digital transformation. Besides, a critical analysis on the main features of Italian SMEs is performed with the aim of understanding their key success factors (as well as their main limitations). This theoretical background – combined with the results deriving from several cases studies – served as input for developing a comprehensive strategic digital roadmap designed specifically for manufacturing SMEs. The implementation of the model provides theoretical evidence and practical demonstration with the objective of supporting SMEs in finding their own identity while launching Industry 4.0 programs.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Digitalisation, Industry 4.0 and organisational implications – an analysis of Italian SMEs.pdf
solo utenti autorizzati dal 09/09/2021
Dimensione
3.9 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
3.9 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in POLITesi sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/10589/167306