Business Process Improvement in Industry 4.0: An Interorganizational Perspective

Abstract

Industry 4.0 calls for end-to-end digital integration of supply chains and a new boundary-spanning logic of process design. The shift is from shared operation to shared transformation. Design science research was chosen to (1) propose an approach for interorganizational business processes improvement in decentralized contexts of Industry 4.0 (IOBP 4.0) and (2) draft a BPMN extension for IOBP 4.0. The results are relevant to guide the fourth industrial revolution with increasingly shared and digitalized business processes. For theory, our work contributes to the emerging business process management logic of digital transformation: support for coordinated touchpoints, flexible infrastructure, and empowered participants. For practice, we propose a continuous improvement approach for IOBP 4.0 that ensures manufacturing visibility in collaboration networks. Managing the punctuated equilibrium of boundary-spanning business processes will be a priority for this decade.