IR 4.0 Readiness of Apparel Industry in Bangladesh

Abstract

Innovation and technological advancement are crucial for the apparel industry, particularly in manufacturing, made-to-order items, and customer requirements. This industry has become one of the most critical aspects of Bangladesh's industrialization process. However, businesses now strategically drive a series of changes, both from an organizational productivity perspective and a technologically supportive one. Industry 4.0 has significant potential to swap the business and manufacturing processes. Although perceptible advancement has been made in the practice of Industry 4.0 technologies and innovation in the manufacturing industries in industrialized countries, there is hesitation about the readiness of competitive businesses and manufacturing industries in developing countries like Bangladesh to adopt Industry 4.0. This study investigates the Bangladeshi apparel Industry's preparedness to implement Industry 4.0. A mixed-methods strategy has been implemented to evaluate the Bangladesh garment sector's readiness. The quantitative information was gathered through an online survey backed by a questionnaire instrument and quantitative methods of the Impulse Foundation of the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau-VDMA). Furthermore, the qualitative data was taken through key informant interviews (KIIs). This exploratory research focused on how companies use technological tools and methodologies and how prepared to adopt the massive changes brought forward by IR 4.0. Based on this study's findings, apparel companies should use technologies such as ERP, Big Data, Cloud, M2M Communication to boost Bangladesh's global competitiveness. In addition, respondents believed that digital transformation could create a smart factory to optimize the manufacturing system, which has a very substantial impact on industry 4.0. Moreover, this exploratory study revealed that Bangladesh's garment companies face significant difficulties in IR 4.0 strategy design and equipment organization to meet IR 4.0 expectations. It is also revealed in this research that skills related to Industry 4.0 exist in hands in Bangladesh. Therefore, further research is needed to discover more features of Industry 4.0 adoption and skilled employee prerequisites.