Abstract This study contributes to identifying valid barriers and proposes a model to understand the challenges to Industry 4.0 in circular economy to obtain social, economic and environmental benefits in practice. Industry 4.0 and circular economy have a mutual effect in practice. Hence, this study aims to investigate how to impede the challenges of Industry 4.0 in circular economy in the context of the palm oil industry. Thirty significant challenge factors in Industry 4.0 in circular economy are collected, and the fuzzy Delphi Method is applied to address the qualitative information and translate the linguistic preferences. Interpretive structural modelling is to compose and interpretive the interrelationships in the impeding change on industry 4.0 in circular economy in practical model. The main findings are the identification of 18 essential challenges in Industry 4.0 in circular economy. The most important challenges are lack of automation system virtualization, unclear economic benefit of digital investment, lack of process design, unstable connectivity among firms and employment disruptions. This study contributes to unveiling what challenges Industry 4.0 in circular economy faces and how to address those challenges as a basis for operational decision-making. The limitations and future research directions are discussed.

中文翻译：

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循环经济中工业 4.0 的阻碍挑战：马来西亚的棕榈油行业

摘要 本研究有助于识别有效障碍，并提出一个模型来理解循环经济中工业 4.0 面临的挑战，从而在实践中获得社会、经济和环境效益。工业4.0和循环经济在实践中是相互影响的。因此，本研究旨在调查如何在棕榈油行业的背景下阻止循环经济中工业 4.0 的挑战。收集了工业4.0循环经济中的30个重大挑战因素，并应用模糊德尔菲法处理定性信息并翻译语言偏好。解释性结构建模是在实际模型中组合和解释循环经济中工业4.0阻碍变化的相互关系。主要发现是确定了工业 4.0 循环经济中的 18 项基本挑战。最重要的挑战是缺乏自动化系统虚拟化、数字投资的经济效益不明确、缺乏流程设计、公司之间的连接不稳定和就业中断。本研究有助于揭示循环经济中工业 4.0 面临的挑战以及如何应对这些挑战，并将其作为运营决策的基础。讨论了局限性和未来的研究方向。本研究有助于揭示循环经济中工业 4.0 面临的挑战以及如何应对这些挑战，并将其作为运营决策的基础。讨论了局限性和未来的研究方向。本研究有助于揭示循环经济中工业 4.0 面临的挑战以及如何应对这些挑战，并将其作为运营决策的基础。讨论了局限性和未来的研究方向。