Industry of Bosnia and Herzegovina within Industry 4.0

Currently, the world is facing major changes. Research and development of innovations in new technologies, the rapid pace of implementation of these innovations and especially digitization and automation, play a major role in shaping the future world. Technological innovations promise the transformation of the world we live in all its dimensions. However, in order for the benefits of innovation to be adequately exploited, it is necessary for us as a society to adapt to the coming changes. We must also keep in mind that these changes come at a time previously marked by uncertainty, turbulent changes and hyper competitiveness. The development and implementation of new technologies in business is motivated by a number of technical and economic reasons: improving the quality of finished products (machining, etc.), increasing productivity and reducing the share of work (assembly process), increasing the degree of homogeneity of product quality in all production processes related to the application of robotic technology, increasing the level of safety, reducing labor engagement in routine and reproducible processes, minimizing total production costs and maintenance costs of the device in the production process, all with the purpose of adequate responses to competition challenges and increasingly stringent customer requirements. Although the concept of Industry 4.0 is already widely used in developed countries, it is a relatively new concept in the Western Balkans, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most company managers understand the benefits of "smart" production and are familiar with new trends in the industry, intend to gradually introduce smart solutions, methods and technologies, and only a small number of companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina currently implement the concept of Industry 4.0. The paper presents the results of research on the application of Industry 4.0 technologies in all branches of the economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and especially the representation of Industry 4.0 in small, medium and large enterprises. Detection of awareness of certain groups about the concepts of Industry 4.0 was performed, and the research method itself is based on an online survey.