Improving manufacturing efficiency in the industry 4.0 era : empirical evidence from the manufacturing companies

الملخص EN

Purpose – This study aims to examine the effect of virtual manufacturing (VM) on improving manufacturing efficiency to achieve sustainable business practices through focusing on cost reduction, the prediction of needed resources in the implementation processes, and mitigating Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) risks in the industry 4.0 environment.

Design/methodology/approach – This study uses the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to examine the effect of VM on improving manufacturing efficiency to achieve sustainable business practices.

The study relied on a sample of 25 automotive industry companies.

There are several criteria used to assess the effect of VM on managing the costs of production and reducing EHS risks in industry 4.0.

Findings – The results of this study indicate that there is a positive effect of VM to achieve sustainable business practices.

The empirical evidence of this study shows that the full application of VM technology in manufacturing processes leads to a performance improvement of approximately 98.9% .

Research implications- The results of this study inform firms as well as the academic literature and practitioners who are concerned with sustainable business and environmental conservation about the effect of VM on manufacturing efficiency to meet changing customer requirements and achieve sustainable development.

Practical implications- VM solutions provide a digital manufacturing process environment to optimize the manufacturing processes before moving to physical implementation to keep pace with the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Originality/value- This study can be considered as a contribution to the flow of management accounting research about the effect of VM on improving manufacturing efficiency to achieve sustainable business practices.

The study is among the first to assess the effects of VM on managing the costs of production and reducing EHS risks in industry 4.0.

The study evidence appears to be robust there is no endogeneity problem.