Focused on their day-to-day operations, industrial SMEs often perceive the transition to the 4.0 paradigm as distant, although it is more accessible than they assume.
While the technological integration level of Spanish companies is close to the European average according to the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2020, high levels of digitalization have reached very few companies. It is important to highlight that the low digitalization penetration mainly affects SMEs, particularly in the industrial sector.
Industrial SMEs, therefore, are required to invest in more technology but also to change their culture. There is a sense of urgency and necessity for SMEs to address the path towards Industry 4.0 and deep digital transformation if they want to avoid losing competitiveness and, more importantly, the new business opportunities these processes can offer. In fact, the Digitalization Boost Plan for SMEs 2021-2025 involves a set of public initiatives that drive the adoption of new technologies and the digitalization of companies. This project aligns with the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, which foresees that Spain will receive 140 billion euros from the European Union over the next three years, with around 30% of these funds allocated to digital transformation.
4.0 Paradigm: Bringing the Distant Closer
Due to the conception many SMEs have about digitalization, numerous errors are made. One is thinking that Industry 4.0 only involves having a website, social media, and storing data in the cloud. Industry 4.0 changes all traditional aspects of the company: the production process, products, and business models.
In the 4.0 era, technologies such as IoT, machine learning, robotics, and artificial intelligence introduce new paradigms of flexibility, decentralization, and interoperability that will enable new ways of managing production plants, making products and processes more efficient and optimized, and reducing costs.
However, many industrial SMEs still have a distant perception of this new stage. In this sense, the errors include assuming that phase 4.0 is only for larger or more significant companies; others see it as a bet more based on faith than on clear returns on investment. In other cases, the lack of qualification or suitable partners to navigate this path paralyzes them.
It is important to clarify that it is not easy to make the value of digitalization and Industry 4.0 tangible or predictable. Gradually, with the incorporation of different uses of information, it is possible to begin to see the added value. It is also true that this added value is often associated with multiple interactions and complex processes or derives from the combination with other systems and operations.
We cannot claim there is a single value but rather a series of differential and incremental contributions, such as the availability of real-time information for quicker decision-making or efficient management of a warehouse, or improvement in operations and workflows through robotization and the incorporation of sensors. The incorporation of this new paradigm also gradually leads to improvements in maintenance and increased machine availability thanks to predictive systems. Finally, standardization, automated data analysis, and new processes and operations can emerge thanks to the integration of these new technologies.
But to unlock the true potential of the 4.0 world, SMEs need to get clear that a comprehensive combination of technologies is required, as the individual development of any of them, independently and in isolation, is not sufficient. Neither is lacking a strategy. For example, having data from a supply chain is useless if it cannot be analyzed within a broader framework that makes sense of the entire data management process.
SMEs, often focused on daily urgencies, need a holistic view and transversal knowledge. Often, it is technology partners and data experts who can provide the necessary support to identify and prioritize the implementation of these technologies and gradually begin the 4.0 process in a more user-friendly way, understanding that it is within reach and only requires a boost in management and knowledge.
