Industry 4.0 deployment in the construction industry: a bibliometric literature review and UK-based case study

作者：Chris Newman, David J. Edwards, Igor Martek, Joseph H.K. Lai, Wellington Didibhuku Thwala, Iain Rillie · 发表于：Smart and Sustainable Built Environment · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1108/sasbe-02-2020-0016 · 被引用次数：311 · 研究领域：Digital Transformation in Industry、BIM and Construction Integration

Purpose Industry 4.0 is predicted to be a game-changer, revolutionizing commercial and manufacturing practices through improved knowledge utilization and efficiencies. The barriers however, are significant, and the construction industry remains notoriously slow to take up innovations. This study reviews the research work in Industry 4.0 as it relates to construction, and examines a leading UK-based construction firm to ascertain the prognosis for Industry 4.0 roll-out in terms of the impediments and opportunities. Design/methodology/approach A multistage mixed philosophies and methods approach was adopted for this study. First, an interpretivist epistemological lens was used to synthesise extant literature as a means of contextualizing the present study. Second, an empirical case study using a post-positivist stance and inductive reasoning was conducted to explore practitioner acceptance of Industry 4.0 in the UK construction context. Findings Findings from the literature review indicate studies in Industry 4.0 to be a relatively new phenomenon, with developed countries and Germany in particular leading in the field. The range of opportunities are many, but so too are the barriers to enablement. Findings from the case study provide real-world corroboration of the review; practitioners are sanguine about Industry 4.0's potential to reinvigorate the construction industry, but also note that implementation remains curtailed by residual managerial practices dependent on ‘human in...