Knowledge Analysis on the Industry 4.0 Diffusion in Italian Manufacturing: Opportunities and Threats

The evolution of digital technologies places companies in front of an expected paradigm shift that allows manufacturing companies to achieve greater interconnection and cooperation between their resources and customers. The aim of this study is to quantify the diffusion of Industry 4.0 technologies in Italy and offering through the use of Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (SWOT) matrix an assessment of the Italian context in the 4.0 era. This study is based on the processing of data from a survey conducted by the Monitoring Economy Territory (MET). The survey took place between October 2017 and February 2018, and was aimed at quantifying the diffusion of the enabling technologies of Industry 4.0 in Italy. The sample consists of 23,700 companies. The introduction of systems whose implementation is the result of great technological innovations represents a huge opportunity for companies willing to adopt them, which accept to take the risks that being a precursor in this area entails. The costs associated with investments in new technologies are considerable but, if they were to be integrated intelligently, they would allow companies to obtain a huge competitive advantage over competitors who had to introduce the innovations in their production plant at a later time.