# A Framework for Assessing Manufacturing SMEs Industry 4.0 Maturity
## 2 Theoretical Framework
### Contextualization of SMEs Hurdles  
Before the analysis of existing publications regarding SME hurdles to implement I4.0, it is important to define what an SME is. EU recommendation 2003/361 provides an insight  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Model’s Name** & **Source** & **N\({}^{\circ}\) of Dimensions** & **N\({}^{\circ}\) of Levels** \\ \hline IMPULS Industrie 4.0 Readiness 2015 & [3] & 6 & 6 \\ Industrie 4.0/Digital operations & [4] & 7 & 4 \\ self-assessment 2016 & [35] & 4 & 6 \\ Industrie 4.0 Maturity Index 2017 & [32] & 9 & 5 \\ Maturity model for assessing I4.0 2016 & [33] & 2 & 5 \\ Guideline Industry 4.0 2016 & [33] & 2 & 5 \\ Industry 4.0 Selbstecheck & [34] & 4 & 5 \\ An Industry 4.0 readiness Assessment tool & [31] & 6 & 4 \\ An Industry 4.0 maturity model proposal & [29] & 5 & 6 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: I4.0 maturity/readiness models.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Models:** & [31] & [35] & [3] & [34] & [33] & [31] & [29] \\ \hline Product & X & & X & X & X & X & X \\ Processes & X & & X & X & X & X & X \\ People & X & & X & X & & & X \\ Technology & X & X & X & & & & X \\ Organisation & & X & X & X & & & X \\ Strategy & X & & X & & & X & X \\ Culture & X & X & & X & & & X \\ Governance & X & & & & & X \\ Information Systems & & X & & & & & X \\ Data drive services & & & X & & & & X \\ Supply chain & & & & & & X \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: I4.0 chosen models dimension analysis.  
on the definition of SMEs, stating that \"The category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is made up of enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million\" [38]. Nevertheless, regardless of size, I4.0 can be integrated into all aspects of an organization, from the shop-floor to the top management, and everything in between [6].  
For the development of this model, we considered the categories for the list of hurdles presented in [PERSON] and [PERSON] [15]. These mentioned categories disclose both the difficulties that are inherent to SMEs, and the struggles that exist in the development of approaches to ease their integration in I4.0. In this regard, if a maturity model is to be developed for these types of companies, it should consider their problems of implementing the concept under assessment. In fact, from the 13 works presented in Table 2, only [5; 6; 34] contemplate both a model and a list of hurdles that companies may have when implementing this concept. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether these models contemplate these obstacles, since no systematic approach that correlated the hurdles and the development of the respective models were found in these works, confirming the literature gap postulated at the beginning of this research.  
To conclude, there is a need for a comprehensive model that not only has more detail than the ones presented in the literature, i.e., granularity, especially in the initial levels, while keeping its holistic approach to the concept, but that also considers the hurdles and obstacles that SMEs face when implementing I4.0 initiatives.