AI-Enabled Smart Manufacturing and Sustainable Industrial Transformation: Comparative Engineering Systems Analysis of Germany’s Industrie 4.0 and South Korea’s AI Autonomous Manufacturing Model

Abstract

This article examines how artificial intelligence-enabled smart manufacturing systems transform industrial productivity, engineering coordination, sustainability performance, and socio-economic development. Using a comparative engineering systems analysis of Germany’s Industrie 4.0 model and South Korea’s AI autonomous manufacturing model, the study argues that smart manufacturing is not merely a technological modernization process but a socio-technical transformation shaped by engineering architectures, institutional coordination, industrial policy, and sustainability governance. Germany represents a standards-oriented cyber-physical manufacturing model grounded in interoperability, industrial data spaces, digital twins, Mittelstand upgrading, and platform-based engineering governance. South Korea represents a state-coordinated AI manufacturing model emphasizing robotics, manufacturing data infrastructure, AI vouchers, autonomous factories, SME digitalization, and industrial productivity. The comparison reveals that Germany’s model produces strong interoperability and engineering reliability but faces diffusion constraints among small and medium-sized firms. South Korea’s model accelerates adoption through coordinated public investment and targeted industrial support but must manage data governance, workforce transition, and technological dependency risks. The findings identify three causal mechanisms linking science, engineering, technological systems, and sustainable development: cyber-physical integration, institutional interoperability, and AI-enabled resource optimization. The article contributes to smart manufacturing and engineering governance scholarship by developing a comparative model connecting engineering design, technological implementation, industrial innovation, and sustainable socio-economic resilience.