Exploring Key Decisive Factors in Manufacturing Strategies in the Adoption of Industry 4.0 by Using the Fuzzy DEMATEL Method

Globalization has created a highly competitive and diverse market, an uncertain and risky business environment, and changing customer expectations. An effective manufacturing strategy reduces complexity and provides organizations with a well-organized manufacturing structure. However, existing research on manufacturing strategies appears scattered, lacking systematic understanding and finding no causal relationship between manufacturing strategies' outputs (MSOs) and their importance. Therefore, this study is a pioneer in identifying the influential factors of MSOs in the adoption of Industry 4.0 (14.0) technologies utilizing the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. This method is considered an effective method for identifying the cause-effect relationship of complex problems. It evaluates interdependent relationships among MSO factors from the perspective of academic and industry experts. Identifying cause and effect factors leads to increasing the market's competitiveness and prioritizing them. To deal with the vagueness of human beings' perceptions, this study utilizes fuzzy set theory and the DEMATEL method to form a structural model. Results show that customer satisfaction, cost per unit produced, and the number of advanced features are the main factors influencing MSOs.