| Abstract: |
1. INTRODUCTION
The term "Industry 4.0" (I4.0) has gained popularity in recent years, and experts view it as a beneficial instrument to boost competitiveness, particularly small and medium-sized firms (SMEs).
Despite several I4.0 readiness models, researchers highlighted the need for an SME-focused one to capture the key challenges SMEs confront while implementing I4.0. We aim to empirically examine the challenges associated with SMEs’ adoption of I4.0. The analysis is based on semi-structured experts’ interviews, explored using topic modeling and an automatically generated knowledge graph (AutoKG).
2. METHODOLOGY
In our research, seven interviews with domestic experts on topics relevant to the I4.0 readiness of SMEs were conducted, and their transcripts were analysed using BERTopic [1] and AutoKG [2].
First, we translated the interviews into English. Then the text was transformed using a pre-trained sentence transformer language model named "all-MiniLM-L12-v2". We clustered the sentences using the HDBSCAN algorithm. To characterise the resulting 13 clusters, we merged the sentences belonging to the clusters and created topic vectors describing clusters using the class-based TF-IDF approach (c-TF-IDF).
The resulting words as name entities and the transcripts of the interviews were fed into the AutoKG model, where a cooperative agent framework called role-playing [3] was used. This framework utilises multiple agents to facilitate the construction of knowledge graphs.
In our research, the AI assistant is designated as a Consultant and the AI user as a KG domain expert. They collaborate to complete the specified task until the AI user confirms completion.
Finally, we used the resulting knowledge graphs to identify the critical elements of the aspects I4.0 readiness framework for SMEs.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Our results highlight the importance of two significant, closely interlinked, intrinsically complex organisational capabilities, without which I4.0 applications are unlikely to be successful for SMEs:
- The advanced process management capability of the enterprise and the supporting,
- enterprise IT management capability.
Furthermore, we compared our results with two models (CMMI [4], L&K [5]) used to evaluate the organisational capabilities of SMEs for I 4.0 readiness. Our research results confirmed that the evaluation criteria of these earlier models are still valid today. However, in the case of IT management capability, our research has identified a vital assessment aspect (IT, including data and cyber security) that needs to be added to the existing IT management capability model.
REFERENCES
1. Grootendorst, M., BERTopic: Neural topic modeling with a class-based TF-IDF procedure. arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.05794, 2022.
2. Zhu, Y., et al., LLMs for Knowledge Graph Construction and Reasoning: Recent Capabilities and Future Opportunities. arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.13168, 2023.
3. Li, G., et al., Camel: Communicative agents for" mind" exploration of large scale language model society. arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.17760, 2023.
4. CMMI Product Team, T., CMMI® for Development, Version 1.3. Preface, SEI, CMU, 2010.
5. Seong Leem, C., et al., Information technology maturity stages and enterprise benchmarking: an empirical study. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 2008. 108(9): p. 1200-1218. |