Industry 4.0, the so-called fourth industrial revolution, is a future-oriented strategy to prepare industry for future production (Davies & Sendler, 2018a). The opportunities of the applications and technologies of Industry 4.0 have been researched (Hermann, Pentek, & Otto, 2016; Zhou & Liu, 2016). However, in practice, different industrial sectors, e.g. the fast moving consumer goods manufacturing industry, still lag behind on the possible application and implementation of the possibilities of Industry 4.0 (Fry, Mortlock, Firsova, & Moore, 2017).

The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturing industry is one of the largest industries globally (Celen, Erdogan, & Taymaz, 2005). The FMCG manufacturing industry is influenced by trends, such as individualisation of consumer demand, digitisation of operations, etc., throughout its whole value chain from the FMCG manufacturer to the consumer. The construction projects of FMCG factories are also assumed to be influenced by these trends, but are not able to respond to them (Küper, Kuhlmann, Köcher, Dauner, & Burggräf, 2013). Therefore, this research tries to answer the following research question:

What can be done to future-proof the output and process of construction projects in the FMCG manufacturing industry within the context of Industry 4.0?

By means of an explorative research methodology, firstly, data is collected through exploratory interviews and a multiple-case study. Combined with data from a literature review, the current situation of the output (i.e. the FMCG factory) and process of construction projects in the FMCG manufacturing is researched. Furthermore, the trends, challenges and opportunities of Industry 4.0 defining the transition from the current to the future situation, are researched by conducting a literature review. And finally, with all data collected, a design for the future situation and a design for a transition roadmap to the future situation, are made.

The overarching problem of the current output of construction projects in the FMCG manufacturing industry is not being able to manufacturer the specification, volume, moment and location of the demand of the FMCG value chain. The overarching problem of the current process of construction projects in the FMCG manufacturing industry is defined as a poor project process in the perspective of one or more actors in the project organisation. Main actors in the project organisation of construction projects in the FMCG manufacturing industry are FMCG manufacturers, service suppliers (e.g. engineering, design etc.) and process product suppliers process (e.g. original equipment manufacturers).

A PESTE (i.e. political, economic, social, technological and environmental) analysis is used to identify the trends affecting consumer demands, leading to manufacturing challenges in the FMCG manufacturing industry (The World Bank, 2017; United Nations, 2017). Fierce global competitiveness, a big pressure on time, cost and quality, an increasing demand for changeability and integration, are found to be the manufacturing challenges for the FMCG manufacturing industry (Brettel, Klein, & Friederichsen, 2016; Hermann et al., 2016; Kasriel-Alexander, 2012; Zhong, Xu, Klotz, & Newman, 2017). These manufacturing challenges also result into challenges for the construction projects of these factories (Oesterreich & Teuteberg, 2016).

The Industry 4.0 trends defined as opportunities related, to the challenges are: increasing data acquisition, computational power and connectivity, increasing data analytics and intelligence, increasing advanced conversion to the physical world and increasing advanced human-machine interactions. These four trends are linked to specific Industry 4.0 technologies (Küper et al., 2013; Scalabre, 2018).

For the future situation, changeability and integration are introduced as additional project drivers for construction projects in the FMCG manufacturing industry (Davies & Sendler, 2018b; Wang, Wan, Li, & Zhang, 2016; Zhou & Liu, 2016).

For the future output of the specific construction projects, four design concepts are defined: cyber-physical manufacturing, smart manufacturing and modular manufacturing (Hermann et al., 2016; Li et al., 2018; Thramboulidis, 2015). For the future process of the specific construction projects, the Industry 4.0 technologies are mapped out on the different project phases, leading to different durations, a different project organisation and different information management methods (Oesterreich & Teuteberg, 2016).

A transition roadmap is designed for the transition from the current to the future situation of construction projects in the FMCG manufacturing industry, by enhancing the opportunities of Industry 4.0. Different transition steps for the FMCG manufacturer, service supplier and process product supplier eventually lead to the final step of the transition roadmap: co-create a coherent Industry 4.0 strategy, based on the learnings from the previous steps of each actor.

To answer the research question, the generic components of the previous steps of all actors are considered. All actors are recommended to focus on specific Industry 4.0 trend. Moreover, the specific Industry 4.0 strategy, linked to the specific capabilities needed for this strategy, could lead to further exploration and implementation of specific Industry 4.0 technologies. By implementing changeability and integration as additional project drivers, all actors can start developing changeable and integrated parts of their services and products. The realisation of an eco-system of service suppliers and process product suppliers around the construction project of a FMCG manufacturer, in combination with standardised cloud-based documentation and standardised communication strategies, could then be the next step towards future-proof construction projects in the FMCG manufacturing industry.

Limitations of the research context, research design, data analysis and data collection are discussed. The limitations are mostly caused by the combined knowledge fields of the FMCG manufacturing industry, construction projects and Industry 4.0, since not many literature nor theory exists on these combined knowledge fields. Therefore, several recommendations for future research are made, focusing on a more specific part of the combined knowledge field.