Development of an industry 4.0 competency maturity model

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) transformations in manufacturing industries impact technology, systems, and processes and extend to employees' competency requirements and, consequently, the preparation of graduates who will be ready to practice engineering with professional-level technical know-how and non-technical skills in I4.0. An I4.0 Competency Maturity Model (I4.0CMM) could be used as a tool to assess and guide the development of I4.0 and future skills requirements. This study applied the Delphi technique to evaluate the I4.0CMM's validity and utility, and the improvement thereof, using experts' opinions in two successive rounds. Purposeful sampling was employed to enroll 35 participants. Nineteen experts participated in round one survey, out of which 17 experts participate in round two of the survey. The study used a central tendency statistical tool (the mean) to evaluate expert consensus (mean score > 75%) and used means graphs to present the data. The study results demonstrated the sufficiency and relevance of an I4.0CMM to both academic and industry practitioners. The I4.0CMM could provide a comprehensive competency assessment framework that guides the development of graduate attributes that align with the I4.0 competency requirements in the industry.