A review of quality 4.0: definitions, features, technologies, applications, and challenges
Sami Sader, I. Husti, Miklós Daróczi
Abstract
Quality 4.0 is a new term representing a new featured approach to quality management. The recent development in information and communication technologies resulted in a great leap in Industry, causing the emergence of what is called ‘Industry 4.0’. The term ‘4.0’ has been attached to other fields such as Quality 4.0, Agriculture 4.0, Agribusiness 4.0, Service 4.0, Logistics 4.0, Health 4.0. etc., all representing the impact of Industry 4.0 on these terms. In the meanwhile, Quality 4.0 hasn’t been adequately discussed from a scientific perspective; few journal articles pointed out ‘Quality 4.0’ but without a comprehensive interpretation for the scientific foundations behind it. Therefore, this paper suggested a comprehensive, hybrid and balanced definition for Quality 4.0. The paper suggested that Quality 4.0 is an extended approach to quality management, where recent technologies are being integrated with traditional quality practices (QC, QA, TQM) to expand the quality management scope and to improve quality activities. The paper also identified Quality 4.0 features, technologies, and applications. Moreover, the paper highlighted the challenges and future research topics in the context of Quality 4.0.