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A ROADMAP TO ACHIEVE APPAREL 4.0; THE APPAREL INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

OF INDUSTRY 4.0

Research · December 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.32119.37280

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 A ROADMAP TO ACHIEVE APPAREL 4.0; THE APPAREL INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE OF
INDUSTRY 4.0
1HASITHA S B JAYATILAKE, 2 SUREN PETER,
1,2,
Department of Industrial Management, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT
Purpose: The purpose of this research is to develop a roadmap to guide the apparel industry to implement
Industry 4.0 concept which considered as the latest trend of manufacturing sector with the involvement of
Cyber Physical Systems, and Internet of Things.

Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on past literature and the qualitative data gathered
through experts’ opinions. In order to achieve this objective, we developed a readiness assessing model
based on the existing maturity/readiness assessing models available by customizing the most suitable
models to meet the requirements of the apparel industry. Finally, we developed an implementation guidance
model to assist the apparel industry to implement “Apparel 4.0” which can be defined as the apparel industry
perspective of the Industry 4.0 concept.

Originality/value: Since the concept of Industry 4.0 has been arisen from developed countries with
technologically advanced organizations, this research can be identified as a unique approach which focused
on implementing the Industry 4.0 concept in the apparel industry as a contribution from a developing
country.

Keywords: Apparel Industry, Industry 4.0, Readiness assessing models

Paper Type: Research paper

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

Today the manufacturing sector is in the pinnacle of technological innovations which has enhanced the
efficiency and the effectiveness of the production processes. The world is now witnessing the so called 4th
industrial revolution, after moving forward with three industrial revolutions which has technologies and
concepts of value chain organization which draws together Cyber-Physical Systems, the Internet of
Things and the Industrial Internet of Things. The concept of fourth industrial revolution originated from
countries like Germany as “Industry 4.0” as a government initiative and USA as “Industrial Internet
Consortium” which has been emerged from leading multinational organizations. Later this concept has been
adopted by the other parts of the world like India and China as “Make in India” and “Internet +” respectively
(Wan, et al., 2016). Scholars like Srivastava (2016) highlights that the world is currently in the edge of
Industry 3.0, which has been primarily driven by Information & Communications Technologies (ICT)
enabling both manufacturing and service sectors to achieve many gains. Also the sensors, RFID chips,
‘cyber physical’ systems and the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming manufacturing and services
across the entire supply chain as well.
When considering the Industry 4.0 as an apparel industry perspective, several scholars have focused on
Industry 4.0 in textile and apparel industry. Chen, et al. (2015) has identified in their research that there is
a possibility to customize Industry 4.0 as textiles 4.0 in order to specifically serve textile industry by figuring
out the industry standards and its implementation process. Bruno, et al. (2016) have mentioned in their
research that the concepts such as mini factories, purchase activated manufacturing, active tunnel infusion,
automated apparel systems, social manufacturing, smart textiles and wearable technology, 3D and 4D
printing as disruptive technologies which are having the capability to promote the sector’s transformation
in adopting principles of Industry 4.0 in the apparel and textile manufacturing sector in Brazil. It is evident
that still there is a shortage of literature specifically focused on the apparel industry perspective of the
Industry 4.0 concept.
We identified that the requirement implementing Industry 4.0 in the apparel manufacturing industry with
the vision of achieving “Apparel 4.0” as the apparel Industry perspective of the Industry 4.0 concept. The
roadmap started with developing of a readiness assessing model for the apparel industry as an initial step
to implement Industry 4.0 concept by identifying the current status of the apparel manufacturing
organizations. The next step which have been identified in the roadmap is the development of Industry 4.0
implementation guidance model in order to guide the apparel manufacturing organizations to achieve the
“Apparel 4.0”. We also identified the shortage of literature in the apparel industry perspective of the
Industry 4.0 which we have tried to fill that gap from this research as well.

1.2 Apparel 4.0

The ultimate goal of following the implementation framework is to achieve the concept of “Apparel 4.0”
which can be identified as the apparel industry perspective of the Industry 4.0 concept. In here, it is very
important to identify the concept behind the “Apparel 4.0”. As earlier mentioned, Bruno and Pimentel
(2016) have identified in their research that the technologies such as ‘mini factories’, ‘automated apparel
systems’, ‘social manufacturing’ and ‘3D printing’ would be the disruptive technologies for the apparel
industry to implement Apparel 4.0. It is significant that only this literature had specifically mentioned about
Apparel 4.0.

After considering the latest developments in the Industry 4.0 concept, it is evident that the apparel industry
should also consider about applying Industry 4.0 as a method of creating new business models or re-
engineer the current processes. So, the “Apparel 4.0” could be the ultimate objective of a particular apparel
manufacturing organization to create a new business model.

Based on these, the term “Apparel 4.0” can be defined as the apparel industry perspective of the Industry
4.0 concept where the apparel industry equipped with the latest disruptive technologies while re-
engineering the current business model or creating new business models.

2. Readiness Assessing models

2.1 Existing readiness assessing models

Readiness assessing model or the maturity models can be identified as business tools used to assess a current
position of an organization. In order to assess the readiness of a particular organization to implement
Industry 4.0, a readiness or a maturity model can be used. Several scholars and organizations have
developed readiness assessing models where an organization have the ability to conduct a self-assessment
in order to identify where the business currently stands. With regard to the domain of Industry 4.0, the
several models and tools for assessing readiness or maturity have been published,

VDMA, IW Consult and RWTH (2015) have developed the “IMPULS-Industry 4.0 Readiness Online Self
Check for Businesses” as an online self-assessment in 6 dimensions including employees, strategy and
organization, data driven services, smart factory, smart products and smart operations including 18 items
to indicate readiness in 5 levels. All the questions have been well structured with explanations in this model
and the users have the ability to compare the results with the other companies in the respective industry as
well. This model also provides detailed explanations in each dimension as well.

It is important to identify that the companies like PricewaterhouseCoopers and Rockwell Automation has
also come up with two different Industry 4.0 readiness assessing models. PricewaterhouseCoopers has
developed “Industry 4.0 Self-Assessment (2016)” as an online-self assessment like IMPULS model which
has 6 dimensions which focuses on digital maturity in 4 levels. The approach in this model is different
compared with IMPULS model where the users can assess both current and the expected level of readiness.
Rockwell Automation has developed “The Connected Enterprise Maturity Model (2014)” as a maturity
model with technology focused assessment in 4 dimensions as part of a five-stage approach to realize
Industry 4.0. The major drawback in this model is that a clear explanation about maturity items and
development process has not been provided like IMPLUS and PWC models.

After identifying the limitations of the above three models, Schumacher, et al., have developed a maturity
model for assessing Industry 4.0 readiness and maturity of manufacturing enterprises (2016). This model
has been built after analyzing the models from VDMA, PWC and Rockwell Automation as an independent
research of the scholars. The proposed model includes a total of 62 maturity items which are grouped into
nine company dimensions. A detailed explanation has been given in this literature about the development
process but the limitation is that the lack of information available about the maturity items of the company
dimensions.

When comparing the above-mentioned readiness or maturity models, it was evident that the IMPLUS model
provides more detailed and well-structured information in the model to assess the readiness of the business
to Industry 4.0. The major drawback of the IMPULS and PWC models is that they have focused more on
the technological aspect of the Industry 4.0 especially with the intention of assessing the organizations with
high end technology. The maturity model developed by Schumacher, et al., (2016) has identified this issue
in to some extend where they have identified ‘technology’ as a one dimension of the model and management
aspect has been focused with five dimensions including strategy, leadership, culture, people and
governance.

2.2 Method of Developing the readiness model

When considering about the existing readiness/maturity models, we have identified the common limitation
of them as
The inability to apply them directly to the apparel industry. Especially the maturity items and the dimensions
have not directly addressed the requirements of the apparel industry as well. After identifying this limitation,
we decided to develop a readiness assessing model which would focus especially on the apparel industry.
As the initiation phase of the development process, we conducted a detailed literature survey in order to
study about the emerging concept of Industry 4.0 and the literature about the applicability of the Industry
4.0 in the apparel industry context. After that we conducted a detailed review of the existing
maturity/readiness assessing models in order to identify the strengths and limitations of those models. Based
on that we decided to use the IMPULS-Industry 4.0 Readiness Online Self Check for Businesses (2015)
and the maturity model by Schumacher, et al., (2016) as the basement of our model and customize them to
match the requirements in the apparel industry. After considering the initial factors, we developed the
Industry 4.0 readiness assessing model for the apparel industry with the findings from the literature and our
experience in the apparel industry. We developed the model with 7 dimensions which have specific focused
areas in the apparel industry. After developing, we converted the model in to assessing method using an
online questionnaire which we sent to the leading apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka in order to test the
model and also to obtain feedbacks for the future improvements.

2.3 INDUSTRY 4.0 READEINESS ASSESSING MODEL FOR APPAREL INDUSTRY

In the readiness assessing model, we identified 7 dimensions as in the Figure 1 which have different focuses
in terms of the apparel industry perspective.

Figure 1: Dimensions of the model

In the readiness model, we especially identified ‘management’ as a one dimension as we believe that the
involvement of the senior management is vital to implement Industry 4.0 concept in an industry like apparel
which has considerably high percentage of human interaction comparing to other technological advanced
industries. The scholars like Haddara, et al., (2015) have highlighted in their research about the gap in
literature about the business side of the Industry 4.0 such as feasibility, strategy and the change
management.
 Figure 2: Focusing aspects of the readiness model

We converted this model in to an assessing method as a questionnaire which covers the all aspects of the
focused areas in each dimension. The questionnaire has then been sent to the production plants of the leading
apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka via Email in order to gather the initial findings and also to test the
model. We got positive responses from all the respondents where most of them have highlighted the
importance of having this kind of model to assess the current status of their production plants.
A score for each readiness level has been defined based on the minimum requirements of each level. This
score can be used to conduct analysis and the comparison among competitive organizations and as well as
the different clusters in the same organizations. Based on the responses to the questionnaire, the score for
each dimension can be identified and then the total score can be calculated.

According to the above score levels, scores and ranges of the readiness levels would be as follows,

Readiness level Score range

Outsider 0
Beginner 1-10
Intermediate 11-30
Experienced 31-45
Expert 46-59
Top Performer 60

3. Implementation Guidance model

The final objective of this research is to develop the framework to guide the apparel industry to implement
Industry 4.0 concept. Only one literature could be found which has specifically mentioned about
development of a strategic guidance model to implement Industry 4.0 by Erol, et al., (2016).
Erol, et al., (2016) has come up with a three staged process model as a strategic guidance towards Industry
4.0. It is important to identify that; they are the same scholars who had developed the maturity model for
industry 4.0 readiness in 2016 to assess the maturity of the industries to implement Industry 4.0. This
implies, the approach which have been followed in this research is also similar to the approach followed by
Erol, et al. In the three-stage process model, the scholars have suggested three stages namely, Envision,
Enable, Enact. “Envision” is where a company acquaints itself with the general concepts of the Industry 4.0
vision, develops its own understanding and aligns general Industry 4.0 ideas with company specific
objectives and customer needs. This can be identified as an important stage where the scholars have tried
to fill the gap of not considering the business side of Industry 4.0 as they have identified the importance of
management consideration with each and every stakeholder of the organization when developing the
Industry 4.0 vision. The “Enable” stage has been dedicated to break down the long-term Industry 4.0 vision
into a more concrete business model and to develop principal strategies towards its successful
implementation. Finally, the “Enact” stage has the goal of transforming strategies into concrete projects
where the project goals, teams and principal milestones have to be defined.
Even though this model provides a systematic way of strategic guidance towards Industry 4.0, the major
drawback is that the model was based on the findings of developed countries and the companies with high
end technological background So the direct applicability of this guidance model in the apparel industry and
as well as in the context of a developing country is questionable. Also, this model provides a top down
approach where the organizations defined an Industry 4.0 vision first.
After considering the issues of the strategic guidance framework by Erol, et al., (2016), an implementation
framework has been developed in order to guide the apparel industry. This framework is basically following
the bottom-up approach in contrast to the model of Erol, et al., which follows a top-down approach.
Initializing the Industry 4.0 working group
The initial process of the implementation path of the Industry 4.0 is that the formation of the Industry 4.0
working group in order to start the process. The working group should be consisted with at least each
employee of the sections of the production plant in order to create a solid basement for the implementation
process. This work group has the responsibility to carry out all the stages of the implementation process
which would be more viable.
Assess
Assessing the readiness of the production plant or the current situation of the plant is the next major step in
the implementation process. This assessing step is very crucial to any organization in order to identify their
current position in terms of Industry 4.0 perspective which is a missing part in the guidance model of Erol,
et al. as well. The readiness level can be assessed based on the seven dimensions of the readiness assessing
model. When conducting the assessing, the organizations would be able to identify the issues in their current
system and the improvements needed.
Plan
After identifying the readiness level, the working group required to plan the relevant procedure to be
followed, in order to the organization to achieve the target of implementing Industry 4.0. The significance
of the implementation framework is that; the planning phase would be depended on the current readiness
level of a particular production plant. It has to be identified that the production plant has to follow a step by
step approach in achieving the target of implementing Industry 4.0 from its current level.
In the planning stage, it is important to identify the “outsider”, “intermediate” and “expert levels from the
readiness levels as the milestone levels where the organizations can develop their plans targeting the
milestone levels as their goals achievable within a particular time period. For example, if a particular
production plant is in the outsider level, the working group of that particular production plant can create
their plan based on the requirements under seven dimensions in order to move to the intermediate level
within 5-year time period. From this approach, a particular production plant will be able to systematically
move in to achieve the goal of implementing Industry 4.0.
The planning stage will consist of all the budgeting and feasibility studies along with the collective
agreements among the stakeholders of the business.
Act
This stage is similar to the ‘Enact’ stage defined by Erol, et al., where the organization has to start working
on the developed plans in order to achieve their targets. This stage will consist of continuous improvements
in the existing projects along with the controlling and monitoring of the new projects as well. The working
group should ensure that the proposed projects are aligning with the time plans in order to achieve the
targets.
5. Conclusion

This research focused on developing a roadmap to assist apparel industry to implement Industry 4.0 concept.
The readiness assessing model was developed based on two existing readiness assessing models by
customizing them to meet the requirements of the apparel industry, by a detailed literature survey and our
experiences in the apparel industry. This model can be used to collect the data from any apparel production
plant in order to identify their current status in terms of Industry 4.0 perspective.
As the future research, the findings from this model can be used to develop a framework to for the apparel
industry to
implement Industry 4.0 concept. Using this connected approach, the apparel manufacturers will be able to
identify their current status and then follow the framework to systematically implement Industry 4.0 concept
in their organizations as well.
 REFERENCES

Bruno, F. d. . S. & Pimentel, F., 2016. Apparel Manufacturing 4.0: A Perspective For The Future of The
Brazilian textile and apparel industry. São Paulo, FASHION COLLOQUIA.

Chen, Z. & Xing, M., 2015. Upgrading of textile manufacturing based on Industry 4.0. s.l., Atlantis Press.

Erol, S., Schumacher, A. & Sihn, W., 2016. Strategic guidance towards Industry 4.0 – a three-stage process
model. s.l., s.n.

Haddara, M. & Elragala, A., 2015. The Readiness of ERP Systems for the Factory of the Future. Procedia
Computer Science, Volume 64, p. 721 – 728.

IMPULS Foundation of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA),IW Consult Institute for Industrial
Management (FIR) at RWTH Aachen University, 2015. Industry 4.0 Readiness Online Self-Check for
Businesses, s.l.: s.n.

PWC, 2016. Industry 4.0 Self Assessment. [Online] Available at: https://i40-self-
assessment.pwc.de/i40/landing/

Rockwell Automation, 2014. The Connected Enterpris Maturity Model, s.l.: s.n.

Schumacher, A., Erol, S. & Sihn, W., 2016. A maturity model for assessing Industry 4.0 readiness and
maturity of manufacturing enterprises. Procedia CIRP, Volume 52, pp. 161-166.

Srivastava, S. K., 2016. Industry 4.0. Lucknow, BHU Engineer’s Alumni.

Wan, J., Wang, S., Li, D. & Zhang, C., 2016. Implementing Smart Factory of Industrie 4.0: An Outlook.
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