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

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. © 2021 IEEE.

Applications of Industry 4.0 during COVID-19 Situation for Thailand's Logistics System in Customer Satisfaction Context

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected business activities in many industries that can be disrupted by customer behavior. Logistics system plays the major role for response customer satisfaction. This research aims to develop logistics system in customer satisfaction context during COVID-19 situation in Thailand using Industry 4.0 principles. This paper presents the overview of Industry 4.0 and logistics system, the evaluation of customer satisfaction in logistics system during COVID-19 situation, and the applications of Industry 4.0 for logistics system in customer satisfaction context during COVID-19 situation. This study is conducted using focus group and interview with managers from large logistics service providers in Thailand. Results indicate that the use of Industry 4.0 technologies and the development of employees' skills are the potential solutions for reducing the effects of COVID-19 in logistics system. IoT, Cloud, and Big Data support all of customer satisfaction factors. It is also found that the use of appropriate Industry 4.0 technologies and the improvement of the logistics system are the critical aspects for enhancing business competitiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2021 IEEE.