Adopting Industry 4.0 technologies has wide-reaching benefits for NSW’s manufacturing sector, but small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often get left behind in their ability to benefit from them. This Policy Insights Paper outlines key policy opportunities to enhance the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in NSW manufacturing.

This report identifies opportunities for NSW Government action that could increase the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies and generate state-wide productivity gains, which aim to:

• improve perceptions of the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing SMEs;
• provide greater, customised, end-to-end support for manufacturing SMEs to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies;
• facilitate the sharing of Industry 4.0 technological expertise across the manufacturing business community in NSW; and 
• increase the accessibility of Industry 4.0 technologies to manufacturing SMEs. 

Policy opportunities

1. Establish a “NSW-SME-Centric Manufacturing Technology Centre” for tailored demonstrations of SME-specific technologies.
2. Provide a technology advisory program for SME’s spanning technology selection to implementation.
3. Enhance knowledge exchange through an industry secondment program.