Determining industry 4.0 awareness of SMEs: The case of Osmaniye

Extreme changes are expected in global economic activity with the emergence of Industry 4.0 technologies, called the Fourth Industrial Revolution and first introduced at the Hannover Fair in Germany. This change which was brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution will lead to significant changes especially in the manufacturing industry. From this point of view, some of the competitive advantages that will arise depending on the speed of perception of the revolution is an important issue for many countries. As a developing country, Turkey has the long-term goals such as fully and rapidly adapting its industry to the new revolution and benefiting from this situation. "This study is mainly designed to investigate Industry 4.0 awareness at the regional level in Turkey, especially the manufacturing industry." In addition, the objectives of the study include examining the company's goals and the condition of the infrastructure for Industry 4.0. In this study, a series of data obtained from surveys which were conducted with 92 companies that operate in Osmaniye province were used. Findings obtained from the survey which consists of 40 questions and 3 sections: (i) company demographics, (ii) industry awareness 4.0, and (iii) company goals and infrastructure show that participating companies are aware of the developments. The companies state that thanks to the revolution, significant advantages will be provided in national and international competition. At the same time, they express that the Industry 4.0 infrastructure should be developed to be able to exist in the future. Besides, companies believe that it will be possible to increase production efficiency and improve their customer portfolio with indusrty 4.0. Even though it is not possible to reach a clear conclusion about the employment creation potential of Industry 4.0, it is said that the revolution will bring new business lines. As a result of the research, they stated that companies could not finance their investments in Industry 4.0 independently. In addition, limited human resources and research and development, insufficient consultancy and training services and lack of in-company cooperation regarding Industry 4.0 are among the other remarkable results.