Digitalization of maintenance: exploratory study on the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies and total productive maintenance practices

Abstract

This paper analyzes the joint adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) practices in manufacturing firms. For that, we surveyed 335 practitioners from firms currently implementing TPM and I4.0, located in sixteen countries. The collected dataset was analyzed using sets of partial correlation analyses, obtained when controlling the effect of three contextual variables, all assessed at the firm level: (i) socio-economic context, (ii) technological intensity, and (iii) size. Pairs of TPM practices and I4.0 technologies with significant positive correlations in all partial correlation sets indicate positive trends in the adoption of elements in the pairs..