Investigating the effect of Industry 4.0 technologies on Lean bundles: a stakeholder perspective for quality improvement

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate the role of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies (base and front-end) on the deployment of Lean bundles (just-in-time, total productive maintenance and total quality management) to achieve operational performance. Design/methodology/approach We adopt a stakeholder perspective by considering the role of leaders, employees and customers when engaged in quality improvement. The objective is to compare moderation and mediation models and address a gap in literature related to the contrasting outcomes from I4.0 technologies and Lean deployment on firm performance. We perform survey research involving 270 manufacturing firms. We use factor analysis, hierarchical ordinary least squares regression and bootstrapping techniques to evaluate the hypothesised relationships. Findings Our findings confirm I4.0’s mediating influence, suggesting that organisations focusing on stakeholders’ engagement in quality more effectively develop Lean bundles and achieve operational performance. Regarding moderation models, we find no significant relationship between base technologies (Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence) and contrasting results from front-end technologies (robotics, simulation, augmented and/or virtual reality and 3D printing) on deployment of Lean bundles. Originality/value Our work theoretically contributes to the current operations management field by showing that organisations should first engage stakeholders for quality improvement instead of trying to engage stakeholders and adopt digital technologies simultaneously to deploy Lean bundles.