Assessment of Industry Maturity Level 4.0: The Case of a Strategic Defense Company

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Marcus Vinicius Gonçalves da
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Rocha, Clarissa Figueredo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Future Studies Research Journal: Trends and Strategies
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistafuture.org/FSRJ/article/view/455
• topic: Industry 4.0; Assessment; Defense; Strategic Defense Companies; IMBEL; Indústria 4.0; Avaliação; Defesa; Empresas Estratégicas de Defesa; IMBEL

Purpose – This article aims to evaluate the maturity level of a Strategic Defense Company (EED), from the perspective of Industry 4.0 concepts. The EED are characterized by high technological training and the ability to supply Strategic Defense Products (PED) to the Brazilian Armed Forces. Theoretical framework – The term Industry 4.0 has become one of the most recurring topics for the global manufacturing sector and in the academic world (Kagermann et al., 2013), however, academic literature on this topic is still scarce (Qin, Liu & Grosvenor, 2016). One of the problems that stands out is the lack of empirical evidence on the impacts that technologies of Industry 4.0 can have on the operational performance of companies. Instead of this new trend being accepted as dogma, it is necessary to prove its effects on companies, empirically. In this context, this study seeks answers to the following research question: What is the maturity level of Industry 4.0 in Strategic Defense Companies? Methodology – The research is classified in bibliographic, qualitative and descriptive, and uses the survey developed by the IMPULS Foundation, german consulting company, translated and adapted for this study, in the case of the Brazilian Military Material Industry (IMBEL). Findings – The results reveal that the analyzed company has an intermediate maturity level, categorized as learner in an Industry 4.0 maturity model. Research, Practical & Social implications – The research contributes to the empirical development of a model and provides an instrument for analyzing the maturity of Industry 4.0 that can be used in companies from different sectors. Regarding research limitations, it is pointed out that the empirically evaluated data could be validated through descriptive statistics, which would certainly generate greater confidence in the results, however, the study should have a larger sample of participating companies, not being the subject of this study. Originality – One of the gaps in the study of Industry 4.0, in Brazil, is the absence of empirical evidence on the impacts of enabling technologies of this new paradigma, and how they can contribute to the performance of companies. In view of this new tendency, it is necessary to analyze its impacts on companies, seeking to relate the theoretical constructs developed and the reality observed in companies.