Research Article

Beyond “Industry 4.0": B2B factory networks as an alternative path towards the digital transformation of manufacturing and work

Authors: Florian BUTOLLO (Leader of the research group “Working in Highly Automated Digital‐Hybrid Processes”, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society and Berlin Social Science Center) , Lea SCHNEIDEMESSER (Research Fellow of the research group “Globalization, Work, and Production”, Berlin Social Science Center)

  • Beyond “Industry 4.0": B2B factory networks as an alternative path towards the digital transformation of manufacturing and work

    Research Article

    Beyond “Industry 4.0": B2B factory networks as an alternative path towards the digital transformation of manufacturing and work

    Authors: ,

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Abstract

This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.

This article uses theoretical and empirical evidence of variations in digitalized manufacturing to revisit Piore and Sabel's 1984 work on flexible specialization and to criticize the inherent one‐sidedness of the Industry 4.0 discourse. This is juxtaposed with empirical findings on platform‐mediated business‐to‐business factory networks, in which flexibility is facilitated by the digital interconnection of a far‐flung network of small‐scale manufacturers rather than by sophisticated production technology. The effects on work are equivocal; they entail the potential for a craft‐like and skill‐intensive paradigm of small‐scale manufacturing that can upgrade work, but also for a race to the bottom in price‐sensitive industries.

Keywords: Alibaba, Industry 4.0, digitalization, flexible specialization, upgrading, platform, global value chains

Rights: © 2021 The Authors. International Labour Review © International Labour Organization 2021, published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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Imported License