Underpinning model for digital transformation in Industry 4.0 Modelo de apuntalamiento para la transformación digital en la Industria 4.0

abstract

© 2021 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.Industry 4.0 is considered a new industrial revolution with a global impact that presents challenges never seen before, solved only through innovative technological solutions. The effort that this challenge implies to organizations goes beyond investments in information technologies, it requires an adequate interconnection of processes, technology, and people. The model presented in this article is the result of an organizational intervention strategy whose purpose was focused on incorporating the use of technological tools among company personnel. The first steps of the investigation over the organizational situation allowed to identify the critical factors in a digital transformation strategy, these are: the company's processes, technology as an enabling tool of the processes and, above all, the people who execute processes using technological tools. However, subsequent findings after interviews with those involved emphasized the connections between the three factors as determinants to maintain an appropriate balance that leads to a cultural transformation capable of coping with the demands of the environment. The integration of the information obtained outlined a support model capable of guiding the organization step by step in its transformation process by taking care of the components and their interconnections, paying special attention to people. The results obtained after applying the model exceeded the expectations of those involved and of the collaborators in the company.