Purpose

This study proposes the Smart SME Technology Readiness Assessment (SSTRA) methodology which aims to enable practitioners to assess the SMEs Industry 4.0 technology readiness throughout the end-to-end engineering across the entire value chain; the smart product design phase is the focus in this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed SSTRA utilises the analytic hierarchy process to prioritise smart SME requirements, a graphical interface which tracks technologies' benchmarks under Industry 4.0 Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs); a mathematical model used to determine the technology readiness and visual representation to understand the relative readiness of each smart main area. The validity of the SSTRA is confirmed by testing it in a real industrial environment. In addition, the conceptual model for Smart product design development is proposed and validated.

Findings

The proposed SSTRA offers decision-makers the facility to identify requirements and rank them to reflect the current priorities of the enterprise. It allows SMEs to assess their current capabilities in a range of technologies of high relevance to the Industry 4.0 area. The SSTRA assembles a readiness profile allowing decision-makers to not only perceive the overall score of technology readiness but also the distribution of technology readiness across the main smart areas. It helps to visualise strengths and weaknesses; whilst emphasising the fundamental gaps that require serious action to assist the program with a well-balanced effort towards a successful transition to Industry 4.0.

Originality/value

The SSTRA provides a step-by-step approach for decision-making based on data collection, analysis, visualisation and documentation. Hence, it greatly mitigates the risk of further Industry 4.0 technology investment and implementation.

中文翻译：

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工业4.0背景下的智能SME技术准备状况评估方法

目的

这项研究提出了智能中小企业技术准备度评估（SSTRA）方法，旨在使从业人员能够评估整个价值链中端到端工程中的中小企业工业4.0技术准备度。智能产品设计阶段是本文的重点。

设计/方法/方法

拟议的SSTRA利用分析层次结构过程对智能SME需求进行优先级排序，这是一个图形界面，可跟踪工业4.0技术就绪水平（TRL）下的技术基准。一个数学模型，用于确定技术就绪状态和可视化表示形式，以了解每个智能主区域的相对就绪状态。通过在真实的工业环境中进行测试，可以确认SSTRA的有效性。此外，提出并验证了智能产品设计开发的概念模型。

发现

拟议的SSTRA为决策者提供了确定需求并对其进行排名以反映企业当前优先级的便利。它使中小型企业可以评估与工业4.0领域高度相关的一系列技术的当前能力。SSTRA汇总了准备情况简介，使决策者不仅可以了解技术准备情况的总体得分，还可以了解主要智能区域中技术准备情况的分布。它有助于可视化优点和缺点；同时强调了根本的差距，需要认真采取行动，以平衡地努力向该计划迈进，以成功实现向工业4.0的过渡。

创意/价值

SSTRA提供了基于数据收集，分析，可视化和文档编制的分步决策方法。因此，它大大减轻了进一步工业4.0技术投资和实施的风险。