Industry 4.0 in Textile and Apparel Industry: A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research Trends

Abstract

The manufacturing industry is poised to undergo a paradigm shift with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, popularly known as ‘Industry 4.0’, which will integrate the physical and digital worlds. As a widely acknowledged phrase among research institutions and universities, the ‘Industry 4.0’ paradigm has attracted significant interest from the academic, business and scientific communities. Even though the concept is not new and has been at the forefront of scholarly research for many years with many interpretations, the ‘Industry 4.0’ concept has just recently been introduced. It is widely accepted not only in the research field but also in the manufacturing ecosystems. However, there is a need to comprehend industry-specific research advancements, trends and gaps due to the diverse applications of different technologies. This article systematically reviews and comprehensively evaluates the research on different Industry 4.0 efforts and their applicability in the textile and manufacturing industries. This article aims to map the current Industry 4.0 literature in the textile and apparel industry to analyse and categorize existing research and identify research gaps. We utilized the PRISMA framework to conduct a systematic review of the literature and 34 research publications on Industry 4.0 in the textile and apparel industry were located using a well-organized keyword search of the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The findings indicate that, of all Industry 4.0 technologies, the internet of things (IoT) and RFID applications are the most extensively investigated in the textile and manufacturing industries. Despite the extensive applications of additive manufacturing (AM)/3D printing and augmented reality (AR), research in both fields is still in its infancy. The study revealed that Germany is the country that has published the most literature on Industry 4.0 projects in the textile and apparel industries. We urge that future academics focus on determining the relevance of Industry 4.0 initiatives to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as the textile and apparel industry is dominated by SMEs in many developing countries.