Reducing Muda with Industry 4.0: a case study on ERP system enhancement

This paper is to explore the integration of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies into a customised enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, with a specific focus on reducing Muda in the manufacturing environment. As a fresh perspective, assessing the catalyst role of ERP is not limited to a certain module of the ERP but contains the main streams of functionality in the core business processes of the given context. The methodology involves conducting interviews with experts plus using ranking and inferencing approaches. This leads to pre-selecting, prioritising, and measuring the effectiveness of I4.0 enablers in reducing Muda besides justifying the implication of ERP's applicability in the given context. Results demonstrate the contribution of enablers in reducing Muda while signalling the most substantial ones. Leveraging the core business processes of the ERP across the interaction between I4.0 enablers and Muda, the adaptability of the ERP to embrace the enablers is also conveyed.