How Can Firms Implement Smart Manufacturing Through Supply Chain Collaboration? A Multiple-Case Study from China

Abstract

In the context of Industry 4.0 technology, smart manufacturing (SM) facilitates firms to improve efficiency and respond quickly to customization. The complex system characteristics of SM require firms to collaborate with supply chain members to carry out SM transformation. However, the motives, methods, and influencing factors of such collaboration remain unclear. Based on the complex adaptive system (CAS) theory, we conduct a multi-case study of four SM firms, analyzing the mechanisms of how firms collaborate with supply chain members to implement SM. Accordingly, three main findings are derived. First, the drivers of supply chain collaboration must adapt to the environment of high customization, technical complexity, policy, and horizontal competition. Second, firms tend to collaborate with the supply chain members in terms of equipment customization and information interconnection at an early stage, to establish the data and equipment foundation of SM. This process is affected by the level of resource investment in terms of personnel, technology, and capital. Based on these, firms can further build a collaborative platform to realize the integrated management of all supply chain links and improve the SM capability through the iteration of solutions, which are affected by the degree of security in data sharing. Third, supply chain collaboration can improve the implementing quality and satisfaction, reduce the implementation cost, and shorten the implementation cycle of SM. By elaborating these findings, this study contributes to the understanding of supply chain collaboration and its role in SM implementation.

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