Industry 4.0 situation analysis in steel enterprises: An example of Hatay

Global competition, technological advances, and changing customer demands have made innovation even more important for businesses. Businesses that are open to change and innovation are more likely to adopt modern and innovative management approaches, meet changing customer demands, and gain a competitive advantage. In the iron and steel sector, which is an important export sector for Turkey, it is of great importance for businesses to use innovative management techniques in order to survive in the global competitive environment. These techniques can help businesses to make their production processes more efficient, improve their products and services, and open up new markets. Industry 4.0 provides significant advantages in terms of productivity, quality, flexibility, speed, and cost, as digitization and automation increase in production processes. In Turkey, Industry 4.0 applications have begun to become widespread, especially in large-scale enterprises. The Turkish iron and steel sector is working on the efficient use of technology and resources to gain a competitive advantage in the transition to Industry 4.0. However, there are some obstacles to the widespread adoption of Industry 4.0 applications in the iron and steel sector. These include factors such as high investment costs, workforce training, modernization of existing production systems, data security, legal regulations, and standards. This study covers the iron and steel enterprises operating in İskenderun, Dörtyol and Payas districts of Hatay province. While making this selection, the transaction volumes of the districts in the iron and steel sector were taken into consideration. The aim of the research is to examine the Industry 4.0 usage levels of enterprises in the iron and steel sector using the survey method. In our study, it was determined that there is an important relationship between the iron and steel industry and Industry 4.0 by using variables such as the age of business managers, the age of enterprises, the number of employees and the participation of companies in fairs. Ensuring the applicability of Industry 4.0 by taking these variables and the current situation of businesses into consideration will take companies to higher levels. At this point, the implementation of Industry 4.0, taking into account factors such as the age of the businesses, the age of the business managers, the number of employees and the companies' participation in fairs, is seen as a potential catalyst to move businesses to further levels.