Industry 4.0 technologies for sustainability within small and medium enterprises: A systematic literature review and future directions

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has revolutionized manufacturing, necessitating an examination of its sustainability implications, particularly for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Consequently, this study aims to investigate how I4.0 technologies can assist SMEs in achieving sustainability. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to achieve this goal, utilizing articles from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Following a structured methodology, 42 articles were selected based on predefined criteria. In the first stage of the SLR, R (R) software was utilized to analyze the journals, countries, and article growth. Subsequently, with the assistance of Mendeley (R), the selected articles were analyzed to identify correlations among I4.0, sustainability, and SMEs. This process identified 17 sustainability functions supported by I4.0 in SMEs, including Employee skill development, Controlling Waste Generation, and Organizing Production Processes. Furthermore, the results demonstrate how I4.0 technologies can assist SMEs in achieving each sustainability function. The most suggested technologies include the Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, Big Data Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence, serving as the foundation for specific applications across the three dimensions of sustainability. This article contributes to theory by synthesizing previous knowledge of three approaches that had not been studied before and identifying research gaps for future work, such as the correlation between I4.0 and sustainability in service -oriented SMEs and studying the implementation of Industry 5.0 in SMEs. Finally, this research will guide manufacturers, industrialists, and technology suppliers in designing and implementing technologies to facilitate I4.0 for sustainable development in SMEs.