Fostering economic growth, social inclusion & sustainability in Industry 4.0: a systemic approach

摘要

The most modern and mature industrial manufacturing revolution is known as Industry 4.0 (I4.0). Technological advance seeks to minimize all sorts of waste, optimizing the firm’s performance operations aligning this its competitive advantage. While in developing economies often overlooked the society and environment under the current neoliberalism strategy, whose competitive approach is enforced by the State, with a detriment of local SMEs such as Mexico. Thereby, to lead I4.0 implementation for SMEs, the role of the State for a long-term strategic approach is of utmost importance. The industrial strategy should regard the imminent industrial revolution without leaving behind environmental and social dimensions to implement it, like the Scandinavian economies example. This research proposes the soft systems methodology for dealing with the sustainable complexity context and inclusive industrial development phenomena. Its holistic nature provides useful insights that devise how I4.0 and social inclusion fit into the Mexican context. The theoretical proposal builds upon the social inclusion state-of-the-art in the industry 4.0 and a survey for an affordable I4.0 initiative through a stakeholder system’s network communication approach. The inclusive strategy is an effort to align root systems for sustainable development with stakeholders for Mexican SMEs in the manufacturing sector.