Technology Adoption in the Industry 4.0 Era: Empirical Evidence from Manufacturing Companies

In the process of introducing Industry 4.0 concept into the manufacturing environment companies from emerging countries are lagging behind. The rationale for this could be found in the fact that developed countries are leading this transformation, which includes digitalization and integration of manufacturing processes across the entire value chain. Low technological maturity of companies from emerging countries indicates that their focus should be on the implementation of well-established technologies. The aim of this research is to analyze the trend in implementation of Smart Manufacturing technologies in manufacturing companies from emerging country. For this purpose, data gathered among Serbian manufacturing companies through international project European Manufacturing Survey are used. The results indicate that there is a positive trend in the adoption of Smart Manufacturing technologies, which represents solid ground for Serbian manufacturers to move towards the implementation of the Industry 4.0 concept. Results presented in this research could be of use for managers and practitioners for their strategic orientation concerning improvements of production processes.