dc.rights.license | CC-BY-NC-ND | |
dc.contributor.advisor | Heimeriks, Gaston | |
dc.contributor.author | Groot, Ben de | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-02-25T01:01:04Z | |
dc.date.available | 2023-02-25T01:01:04Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2023 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/43572 | |
dc.description.abstract | The Fourth Industrial Revolution, also known as Industry 4.0 has emerged and it is forcing companies
to re-examine the way they do business. Numerous companies barely finished catching up with the third
revolution that dealt with digitising their company. The Dutch government recognised the problems in
taking the next step towards digitalisation especially within the SME manufacturing industry. As
digitalisation is an intricate process, the mechanisms and characteristics that enable digitalisation
needed to be researched. A comprehensive model to identify barriers and offer potential solutions to
lagging digitalisation in the SME manufacturing industry is currently missing in the literature. This gap
in the literature led this research to the following research question: “What strategies can SMEs in the
manufacturing industry use to overcome barriers to digitalisation, creating a digital enterprise and thus
increasing their competitiveness?”. To visualise how all conceptual elements coexist together, a
conceptual model was created after an extensive literature study. This model was tested by conducting
qualitative interviews with a wide range of companies in the Dutch SME manufacturing industry. The
respondents shared the same pronounced views on what barriers were most troublesome. At a micro
level, compatibility challenges prevent linking the factory floor with ERP software. The barrier at meso
level is the fact that the digitalisation level of companies within a supply chain can differ immensely,
so the degree of possible collaboration is limited. The macro level barrier concerns the lack of
standardisation in the industry. This last barrier is the solution in itself. When all companies in a supply
chain can use the same database structure or are able to link it easily with their own software, sharing
data will become effortless. Using standardisation for machinery software will also prevent the resource
investment of custom software development. Policy makers, education institutes and company
executives and managers must keep this conceptual model as their guideline as they aim towards
optimising digitalisation. Using this conceptual model can identify weak points within a company’s
digitalisation efforts. Companies can actively cope with these weak points and thus become a more
digital enterprise. Future research can test the impact of using the conceptual model and its subsequent
effect on digitalisation across the supply chain within SMEs in the manufacturing industry. Applying
the model in other industries or company sizes might also offer different results and solutions that could
help advance the discussion and creation of theory. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | Utrecht University | |
dc.language.iso | EN | |
dc.subject | The Dutch government recognised the problems in digitalisation within the SME manufacturing industry. “What strategies can SMEs in the manufacturing industry use to overcome barriers to digitalisation, creating a digital enterprise and thus increasing their competitiveness?” To visualise how all conceptual elements coexist together, a conceptual model was created after an extensive literature study. The respondents shared the same pronounced views on what barriers were most troublesome. | |
dc.title | Barriers to digitalisation in the SME manufacturing industry: a guideline to a solution | |
dc.type.content | Master Thesis | |
dc.rights.accessrights | Open Access | |
dc.subject.keywords | digitalisation SME manufacturing Industry 4.0 standardisation | |
dc.subject.courseuu | Innovation Sciences | |
dc.thesis.id | 14281 | |