Smart retrofitting in manufacturing: A systematic review

The transition towards smart manufacturing is challenging for companies with a considerable installed base of legacy machines and equipment. In this regard, smart retrofitting has been introduced as a sustainable approach of transforming the current state of legacy equipment into smart and connected assets. By equipping the existing installed base with hardware and software as well as networking capability, smart retrofitting allows for new data-driven processes and business models. While we see a growing number of articles that focus on retrofitting in the context of smart manufacturing, there is still a lack of a uniform definition of smart retrofitting as well as a holistic understanding of its drivers, challenges, and benefits. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the retrofitting literature available through the online databases Scopus and Web of Science. We identified 23 particularly relevant academic articles for a detailed full-text analysis. In this full-text analysis, we searched for definitions of smart retrofitting and synthesized them into a novel definition. Furthermore, we inductively derived contextual drivers and challenges of smart retrofitting as well as retrofit benefits. This literature review provides an overview of the current body of knowledge on smart retrofitting. For academics, our findings show that current research on smart retrofitting focuses on new technologies and legacy systems but largely disregards transformational aspects regarding business models and servitization as well as sustainability aspects, although these deserve more attention in times of global climate challenges. For practitioners, we provide an overview of the drivers, challenges, and benefits that can guide their smart retrofitting initiatives.