Impact of Industry 4.0 as Perceived by the South African Railway Industry

Abstract

The South African railway industry is in the process of aligning itself with Industry 4.0 trends. To stay competitive with today's customer demands, the industry has begun to digitize some of its services. Despite the benefits of the Industry 4.0 initiatives, employees in the railway sector are concerned that automation will replace humans in the workplace. Because of this negative perception, some people have expressed reluctance to fully embrace Industry 4.0 within the sector. The goal of this study was to determine the level of awareness of Industry 4.0 and its perceived impact, and some of the challenges that the South African railway sector has faced in adopting Industry 4.0. The study targeted a total population of 110 engineering practitioners within the South African railway infrastructure maintenance environment. The findings indicated that there was a high level of awareness of industry 4.0 in the South African railway sector. Respondents believed that Industry 4.0 would necessitate the acquisition of skills such as critical thinking, computer programming, agile management, soft skills, and project management. Some of the challenges that the South African railway sector faced in fully embracing Industry 4.0 were a lack of training and a lack of resources. Future research could build on this study by comparing the readiness, challenges, and lessons learned by different sectors in South Africa as they strive to embrace Industry 4.0.