Sustainable Industry 4.0 framework: A systematic literature review identifying the current trends and future perspectives

Abstract Industry 4.0 and its other synonyms like Smart Manufacturing, Smart Production or Internet of Things, have been identified as major contributors in the context of digital and automated manufacturing environment. The term industry 4.0 comprises a variety of technologies to enable the development of the value chain resulting in reduced manufacturing lead times, and improved product quality and organizational performance. Industry 4.0 has attracted much attention in the recent literature, however there are very few systematic and extensive review of research that captures the dynamic nature of this topic. The rapidly growing interest from both academics and practitioners in Industry 4.0 has urged the need for review of up-to-date research and development to develop a new agenda. Selected 85 papers were classified in five research categories namely conceptual papers on Industry 4.0, human-machine interactions, machine-equipment interactions, technologies of Industry 4.0 and sustainability. The review primarily attempted to seek answers to the following two questions: (1) What are different research approaches used to study Industry 4.0? and (2) What is the current status of research in the domains of Industry 4.0?. We propose a sustainable Industry 4.0 framework based on the findings of the review with three critical components viz., Industry 4.0 technologies, process integration and sustainable outcomes. Finally, the scope of future research is discussed in detail.