Impact of Industry's 4.0 technologies in the Portuguese footwear industry

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the Industry 4.0 impacts in the Portuguese footwear industry. A qualitative investigation was carried-out based on in-depth interviews with various relevant actors and experts of the Portuguese footwear cluster. The study reveals that this industry is generally well equipped and informed regarding the related technology trends. Successful examples of Industry 4.0 technologies and application were identified. Nonetheless, a lack of a skilled workforce was identified as the main constraint for effective Industry 4.0 implementation, as well as the urge for less complex technologies with increasingly less human intervention. It was also found out that investments on advanced technology are being constrained by the lack of knowledge concerning the manufacturing-specific needs and what would be the return of such investments. These findings have implications that may promote further investigation and the adoption of new Industry 4.0 related technologies in the footwear sector.