Industry 4.0 and Lean based Operational Performance Improvement Approach: A Conceptual Framework for the Banking Sector

Abstract

With the advancement of technology, Industry 4.0 concepts have been thrived up to a state where the applications can be utilized in a wide variety of industries with the focus of improving operational performance. In order to gain market share, as well as to sustain in the economic crisis, operational performance improvement is highly crucial to the banking sector. This study is concerned with the application of industry 4.0 technologies in a lean based environment within the banking sector of Sri Lanka. When considering banking processes, the main question that arises is, the inefficiencies occurred at different stages of conducting business. Hence, the application of lean tools is a viable solution to address these inefficiencies. Banking processes can be streamlined in order to improve resource utilisation with the elimination of wasteful practices while shortening time and cost to serve, thereby improving the productivity.With some degree of modifications, concepts and technologies comprised in industry 4.0, can be applied to service sectors such as banking. Combining these advanced technologies with lean principles, may result a better operational performance than application of these concepts distinctly. Therefore, integration of industry 4.0 technologies within a lean based environment can be proposed as a viable solution to improve operational performance of the banking sector. This scrutiny presents findings of a comprehensive and systematic review of literature based on the areas of operational performance improvement, industry 4.0, lean management and banking sector. The article will offer an insight to current state of knowledge available in the corresponding areas and will suggest the path for future research.