A factory-level data-informed roadmap to industry 4.0 for low digital maturity steel manufacturing plants

Abstract

This paper presents a factory-level, data-informed Industry 4.0 readiness and upgrade framework for steel manufacturing plants operating in low digital maturity environments, using Uganda as a representative case. Field data was collected at three medium-scale operational steel plants. Customized Digital Maturity Index (DMI) and cybersecurity risk (CSR) assessment criteria were developed and applied. Results show an overall DMI score of 1.8, indicating very low digital maturity with predominantly manual operations, absence of industrial robots, advanced automation, and integrated digital data systems. CSR assessment results show limited formal protection mechanisms. A phased, ROI-driven transition roadmap is proposed. A worked case using plant-level production data demonstrates that selective automation of four bottleneck stations could nearly double annual billet output and achieve an incremental payback period of approximately seven weeks under stated assumptions. Workforce transition modeling using a Markov approach indicates gradual role transformation over an expected horizon of about ten transition cycles rather than abrupt displacement.