The ranking of forest products industry sectors with AHP and TOPSIS methods on transition towards to industry 4.0; case study of Kastamonu region

With the development of technology in the world and digital transformation, the main purpose for businesses is to increase the speed and quality in production, as well as to provide flexibility and cheapness. With the increase in global competition, digital transformation has become necessary for businesses. The first example that comes to mind when it comes to digital transformation is the concept of Industry 4.0. With the Industry 4.0 transformation, businesses aim to become more efficient in production and service by using robots, automation systems, artificial intelligence technologies and cyber physical systems. The idea of Industry 4.0 transformation in Turkey is still in the awareness stage. Some sectors in Turkey are suitable for Industry 4.0 transformation, while some sectors are not yet ready. In our study, the situation of the Forest Products Sectors, one of the leading sectors of Turkey, for the Industry 4.0 transformation has been examined. The region where the study will be applied is the province of Kastamonu, which comes to mind first in forestry. Some forest products sectors in Kastamonu have been ranked by sector for the transition to Industry 4.0 using AHP and TOPSIS methods. In order to realize the sectoral ranking, 11 people were interviewed in Kastamonu. A survey was conducted with 11 people who dominate the forest products sectors. Pairwise comparison was made to determine the importance levels of the 6 criteria determined in the survey study. Then, the suitability of these criteria for the forest products sectors for the transition to Industry 4.0 was evaluated. When the criteria are ranked according to their importance, the most important criterion is the integration criterion. The second important criterion is the information criterion. These criteria are followed by functionality, communication, presence and business criteria in order of importance. The transition ranking of the sectors determined by using the weights of the criteria to Industry 4.0 was carried out. When their suitability is examined, the parquet sector comes first. These are followed by fiberboard, particleboard and furniture sectors, respectively.