Barriers to adopting industry 4.0 in Indian textile and clothing industries

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is gaining popularity in textile and clothing for supply chain and operational needs. Indian textile and clothing industries are trying to implement I4.0. However, this industry struggles to adopt I4.0 because of many barriers. Therefore, this study seeks to identify and model the key barriers to I4.0 adoption in the Indian textile and apparel industries. The literature review identified textile and clothing industry I4.0 adoption barriers. An expert team validated these barriers in the Indian textile and clothing industries. The expert team modeled these barriers using DEMATEL. This study found eleven significant barriers. DEMATEL found that cyber security risk is the most significant barrier to I4.0 adoption. In addition, barriers were categorized into cause-and-effect groups. Industries could focus on cause group barriers because they drive the system. The cause group barriers are ‘Lack of advanced IT infrastructure,’ ‘Cultural and Organizational Change,’ ‘Regulatory Issues,’ ‘Data Management and Analysis,’ ‘Reliability and Maintenance,’ and ‘Return on investment.’ Policymakers can identify barrier connections and dependencies with the proposed study. This study helps Indian textile and clothing industry practitioners overcome I4.0 adoption barriers. Eleven barriers were prioritized and grouped by cause and effect.