Abstract
Manufacturing firms are lately experiencing a paradigm shift from mass production to customized production. As such, it becomes more pertinent for industrial entities to engage digital and intelligent systems of manufacturing. Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), is spurred by integrating digital technologies. This is embedded within an interoperable global value chain that guarantees sustainable operational efficiency and value optimization. This paper presents a review evaluating the potential opportunities and threats manufacturing firms experience with adopting the 4IR and the implication on value chains. An extensive literature review was conducted by analyzing accredited resources, using peer-reviewed articles, industry reports, and validated information obtainable in global repositories. The study generated a better understudying of Industry 4.0 technology adoption and their underlying impact (favorable and non-favorable) on industrial value chains. Significant findings reveal that the practice of industry 4.0 has a significant effect on organization cost, material resources, processes, products, systems, humans, and business models in manufacturing firms. The findings indicate that the impact of Industry 4.0 on manufacturing firms be studied holistically as against localized study of enterprises and country. As such, global views with inter-country economic peculiarities and realities must be considered.