Utilization of Industry 4.0 during COVID-19 Pandemic in the Targeted (S-Curve) Industries of Thailand

Abstract

The first COVID-19 is discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan, China and rapidly spread to millions of people all over the world. COVID-19 heavily affects the industrial business and economy of many countries, including Thailand. This study aims at exploring the effects of COVID-19 on the targeted (S-Curve) industries of Thailand and investigating the ways to improve business operations with the utilization of the appropriate Industry 4.0 technologies. The paper presents (1) Industry 4.0 background and the First S-Curve and the New S-Curve industries of Thailand (2) Data collection and analysis (3) The effects of COVID-19 on business operations. The characteristics of each industry, the requirements of business and operator to cope with Industry 4.0, and the implementations of Industry 4.0 technologies during the situation of COVID-19 are analyzed by using a focus group, online questionnaires and interviews. Results show that customer behavior is a major issue on business operations and IoT is the most critical technology in supporting business operations and reducing the impacts of COVID-19. It has also been found that the functions of technologies depend on the characteristics of each industry. Results from this study can assist companies to obtain a better understanding of the critical functions of technologies that suit their characteristics best and develop operator's skills properly for increasing business competitiveness.