The aim of the first part of the project was to obtain the necessary information on the extent of use of I4.0 tools in enterprises and to assess their applicability in the field of Q4.0 management. The obtained and processed results of the structured questionnaire will serve to create a framework for increasing the awareness and competence of employees of organizations and improving the quality of education at universities. The questionnaire follows the results from the output "Analysis of the current state of knowledge about quality 4.0". The motivation for its development was the definition (ASQ, 2020): "Q4.0 combines advanced digital technologies I4.0 with perfect quality to achieve significant performance and improve efficiency.
The questionnaire structure accepts the PDCA cycle for management systems improvement requirements. In addition to the initial informative questions focused on the level of implementation of I4.0 in the organization, the framework for investigating the implementation of Q4.0 management tools was created to be in accordance with the structure of management systems (from Chapters 4 to 10).
The prerequisite for choosing such an approach were at least the following factors:
- The quality management system (ISO 9001, or in the automotive industry also IATF 16949) is the most represented in organizations.
- The basic structure in most management systems accepts HLS (High Level Structure) as one of the basic prerequisites for their integration (Integration Management System).
- I4.0 tools (technological) are implemented in organizations to improve specific processes and areas of management.
A total of 16 organizations participated in the survey, 6 from Slovakia, 6 from the Czech Republic and 4 from Poland. Regarding the industry sector, the most represented was the automotive industry (approx. 63%), then the steel industry (13%) and the food industry (6%), the rest of the respondents were from other industry sector (approx. 18%).
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