A Perspective for the Implementation of a Path Towards the Factory of the Future: The Italian Case

This work presents a case study analysis aiming at depicting a perspective for the implementation of a path towards the Factory of the Future (FoF) and Industry 4.0 (14.0) in organizations of the Italian manufacturing value chain. Starting from the presentation and framing of related supporting initiatives at national and regional level and a review of current literature on digitalization of manufacturing, the paper analyses and discusses good and best practices along three specific dimensions: investments in FoF/14.0 technologies, ability in perceiving and facing the path towards FoF/14.0, knowledge transfer. A set of business cases addressing different actors of the manufacturing supply chain (large companies and SMEs, technology providers and research and innovation players) has been selected for investigating the challenges related to the implementation of the FoF/14.0 paradigm. The main contribution of this work relates to the identification of best practices highlighting enablers and barriers for the adoption of FoF/14.0 technologies based on a theoretical framework on three dimensions, which have to be considered in close connection for an integrated vision of the digital transformation path.