Abstract
South Africa's large manufacturing companies are struggling to grow and compete. Furthermore, people live in a constantly changing world, in an era of modern technologies, globalization, and rapid changes in consumer needs, and it is critical to recognize the significance of this transition. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to identify ways to digital transformation through business process reengineering and to define best practices for digital transformation in the manufacturing sector of South Africa.
A significant effort has been made to position itself as a global leader in unified industry during the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). These Industry 4.0 technologies encompass a wide range of disciplines, including cyber-physical systems, internet of things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and digitalization, to mention a few.
A bibliometric analysis of the progression of BPR and DT fields was carried out leading to the identification of the study domain of the 4IR. In this research a bibliometric analysis employing topic modelling was applied, and research themes were identified from the abstracts and titles of published papers using machine learning and natural language processing for topic modelling. A mixed methods research paradigm with computer simulation and document analysis was considered appropriate for this study and was adopted.
It was found that the impact of Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing sector displays positive results in the sense that efficient utilization of resources and supplies in highly optimized facilities employing smart manufacturing processes has led to an increase in total operational efficiency and as a result, the South African manufacturing sector is encouraged to adopt and implement the advanced technologies that comes with the forth industrial revolution in order to compete globally.
Key words: Digital transformation (DT), business process reengineering (BPR) and fourth industrial revolution (4IR).