Industry 4.0 : Challenges when implementing Smart Factory

Abstract: Industry 4.0 and the smart factory concept are both relevant for academia and companies. Many are talking about it but few understand the challenges that exist before, during, and after an implementation. The thesis aim is to map out the largest challenges with an implementation and also dive deeper into the question of which competence that will be required in a smarter production. To address these questions a qualitative study with thirteen interviews has been conducted, ten of which with practitioners and three with experts in the area. From the interviews the following findings and conclusions could be drawn. Firstly, the largest challenges with implementing industry 4.0 and smart factories will be, large CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) investments, organisational change management, and cyber threats. Secondly, Industry 4.0 is not going to be a revolution it is more going to be an evolution. Thirdly, implementing the smart factory concept is linked to a lot of uncertainty and especially uncertainty related to which competences that will be required. No one can with certainty define exactly what competences that are required but an education in IT and statistics with an analytical mindset will be key elements. There is also a model for how companies are recommended to think when filling vacancies created in the transition to a smarter production in the analysis chapter.