Industry 4.0 integrates enterprises through continuous data flow, which can represent a competitive advantage. This chapter presents an analysis of the public policies for higher education as well as the initiatives that are being developed in Mexico to promote the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. It analyzed government and business initiatives that promote and strengthen labor sector skills to prepare the country's different productive sectors to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technologies. As a result, a set of best practices was identified, consisting of a bottom-up orchestrated process, matching Industry 4.0 initiatives with business needs, and strong involvement of private and public stakeholders. However, it was not possible to identify a strategic map that establishes the lines of action for the effective adoption of Industry 4.0 digital technologies. The formation of human capital to strengthen and increase strategies is an open topic.
TopIntroduction
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), also called Industry 4.0, has a substantial impact on greater efficiency and production performance and therefore on sustainability, due to its technological capabilities (Delera et al., 2022; Jayashree et al., 2022), that, when integrated, enhance productivity, efficiency, and innovation by optimizing production processes, create value with increased product functionality and respond to market needs (Zabidin et al., 2020).
Industry 4.0 integrates manufacturing through continuous data flow, which fosters monitoring, interoperability, and transparency, and represents a competitive advantage for companies. In this regard, 4IR is occurring through ubiquitous computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Big data, Blockchain, and other technological advances are evidence of dramatic change at exponential speed. However, there is little empirical evidence on its adoption and the existing evidence corresponds mostly to developed countries (Shreyanshu et al., 2022).
The Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF, 2018a) says that the adaptation of countries to the 4IR is a relevant factor for their prosperity or stagnation (CEPAL, 2018). Therefore, the Industry 4.0 initiative consists of a high-tech strategic project by governments aimed at stimulating the digitalization of manufacturing processes, as well as supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, this evolution promotes and strengthens standardization, safety, legal frameworks, research, and transformation of labor and production processes.
The Industry 4.0 paradigm promotes that companies develop their capabilities to manage and use the data generated in their production chains through analytical processes based on AI techniques that enable data-driven management that promises to develop a hyper-automated company with high productivity.
To achieve this, it proposes the digitization and vertical and horizontal integration of value chains in the different business sectors; the digitization of product and services offered to the market the digitization of business models, and processes to ensure customer satisfaction (Geissbauer et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2021).
Nine technological pillars are being integrated around the Industry 4.0 vision: big data, autonomous robots, computer simulation, horizontal and vertical integration, internet of things, cloud computing, additive manufacturing, augmented reality, and cybersecurity (Rübmann et al., 2015). These and additional digital technologies shown in Figure 1 provide companies with the opportunity to design and deploy new business models based on innovative strategies and data-driven enterprises to strengthen their competitiveness and sustainability (Müller, 2019).
Figure 1. Digital technologies to Industry 4.0
In the global context, countries are designing strategies at national and regional levels to foster the adoption of the Industry 4.0 paradigm through the implementation of digital technologies in the different operational areas of companies in different industrial and service sectors (Schroeder, 2016; Bittighofer et al., 2018, Sung, 2018).
The purpose of these strategies, within the framework of public and private initiatives, is to prepare companies and their workforce to adopt, implement, and exploit digital technologies linked to Industry 4.0 to strengthen their competitiveness and sustainability, and enable their participation in regional, national, and international production chains. However, despite the benefits of its adoption or implementation, for developing economies, it implies a greater challenge due to barriers and limitations, including resistance to changing the organizational culture, scarce resources, changes in management paradigms, and difficulty to train in digital technology (Parhi et al., 2022; Satyro et al., 2022).
There is a wide range of public policies, strategies, and programs in different countries to address the adoption of Industry 4.0 by companies of different sizes. Different countries around the world share a very close understanding of Industry 4.0, despite the differences in their approach.