Repurposing production operations during COVID-19 pandemic by integrating Industry 4.0 and reconfigurable manufacturing practices: an emerging economy perspective

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on manufacturing industries and supply chains. Manufacturing industries are struggling to repurpose their production activities and ramp up the supply chain to bridge the demand–supply gap. A framework that can cover Industry 4.0 technologies and reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) practices is desperately needed. The current study focuses primarily on the framework that could assist managers in decision-making and the stepwise adoption of RMS during repurposing. The extensive literature review was conducted to identify the prominent Industry 4.0 technologies and RMS practices. To compute the weights of selected practices, the novel Pythagorean fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used; while the Pythagorean fuzzy combined compromise solution (CoCoSo) method was used to prioritize the selected performance metrics. To test the robustness of the developed framework, a sensitivity analysis was carried out. According to the findings, smart factory adoption (SFA) practices were the most significant among the major criteria, followed by reconfiguration practices (RCP), soft computing practices (SCP), sustainable & circular economy practices (SCE), and quality practices (QPS). SFA's advanced technologies and SCP's computer algorithms certainly assist in the repurposing of production activities (RPO). The results of the sensitivity analysis demonstrated the robustness of the developed framework. The developed framework will be useful during RPO, and the identified practices can make a significant contribution. Advanced technologies and sustainable practices can help to improve the organization's work culture. Managers will be able to evaluate the organization's performance with the help of identified performance metrics. The work presented here may be the first attempt to develop a framework for RPO in a pandemic situation.