Key Success Factors for the Implementation of Digital Technologies in the Context of Industry 4.0

The implementation of digital technologies in general and in the context of Industry 4.0 in particular is a socio-organisational challenge. After an introduction into Industry 4.0 and a summary of its key enabling technologies, this paper presents a qualitative analysis of key factors that can influence the success of implementing digital technologies into organizations from the literature as well as from a single industrial case study at a semiconductor manufacturer. Identified key success factors are assigned to two different non-technical dimensions, management, and processes (organizational dimension), as well as corporate culture and employees (social dimension). They include for example, the creation of a common understanding of the as-is situation, the challenge to be solved and the envisaged to-be situation after technology implementation among all relevant stakeholders. Equally important, however, is active support of top management to promote implementation projects and a dedicated project manager with sufficient technical expertise in all related technical domains.