Operations Strategy 4.0 – What Will It Be Like and How Will It Lead to the Ideal of an Integrated Organisation?

Operations Strategy (OS) gained a new perspective after the introduction of the Malcolm Baldrige Model for Business Excellence (MBM), in 1987. Many companies adopted the MBM framework, along with Balanced Score Cards (BSC) and the Annual Quality Improvement Plans (AQUIP) methodology, to achieve world class performance through the creation of ‘integrated organisations’ using Quality Operations Strategy (QOS) as a key driver. With the advent of Industry 4.0 (I 4.0), the possibility of creating a truly integrated organisation appears to have gained momentum. Quality Operations Strategy 4.0 (QOS 4.0) is expected to drive Business Excellence (BE) in digitalised companies in the near future, by creating integrated organisations using MBM and I 4.0 techniques. This paper traces the evolution of the QOS, and its possible evolution in the era of I 4.0.