Manufacturing companies face many hurdles to adapt their production tools and processes to Industry 4.0. Cost reduction and profit increase are expected in the mid or long term, but the plan to reach the expected level of maturity is not easy to draw. To converge toward higher maturity levels, we need first to assess the readiness level of the company and define the tools required for reaching the next level of maturity.
We propose in this article a methodology to help manufacturing companies establish a road map toward Industry 4.0 maturity. In addition to the standard analysis of the maturity level, we propose a scoring methodology that positions the studied maturity items according to the overall business strategy and the cost required to move toward upper grades of maturity. We use principal components analysis (PCA) on this data to automate the ranking of items according to company objectives and feasibility at an acceptable cost.
There is no one-size-fits-all path to maturity. In our case study of a French cable manufacturing company, our analysis highlights the high priority to put on the need for proper data analysis tools.
The scoring methodology presented in the current paper differs from others due to the multidimensional analysis which is performed by Principal Components Analysis. Therefore, items of high priority can be selected by the company regarding a combination of criteria related to company priorities, effort required, company strategy or expected revenue at once. The previous articles addressing this issue cope with other approaches based on the skills of company experts and or other techniques of data analysis.
