Agile production: An application on unmanned surface vehicles from the perspective of industry 4.0 and sustainability

Although the concept of agile production has long been debated in the literature, its substantive development has taken place particularly over the past decade. A review of the literature indicates that the proliferation of Industry 4.0 applications, rapidly changing customer demands, economic fluctuations, climate crises, and global shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic have been decisive factors in this growing interest. These developments demonstrate that agility has become a critical element not only for securing competitive advantage but also for ensuring organizational survival in an environment of uncertainty. In this context, the present study examines the potential of Industry 4.0 to render agile production more sustainable, with the empirical part of the research focusing on the production processes of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs), one of the domains where the need for agility is most strongly felt. In line with the literature, agility strategies (ÇS) and agility capabilities and indicators (ÇYG) were defined, and a comprehensive questionnaire consisting of 68 items was developed based on the insights of industry experts and academics. The expert evaluations were analyzed using the Fuzzy Delphi method, through which items assigned relatively low importance were eliminated, resulting in the retention of 13 ÇYGs and 12 ÇSs. Subsequently, the Fuzzy TOPSIS method was applied to rank these strategies in order of importance. The strategy coded TES01, "Financial Strength and Technological Capabilities," emerged as the most critical, whereas the least critical was identified as SOS08, "Risk Management." This finding suggests that agility is more strongly associated with technological and financial competencies, while risk management assumes a supportive yet secondary role. Moreover, the placement of the sustainability-related strategy coded SUS03, "Agile and Environmentally Friendly Production," in the second rank constitutes a finding that directly supports the aim of this study.