Choosing the Appropriate Strategy of 4.0 Industries for the Implementation of Intelligent Methods in Mining Engineering

The application of new technologies has a significant effect on increasing the efficiency and improving the productivity of production factors in various industries, such as the mining industry. This requires implementing correct and practical strategies, and any incorrect procedure can cause companies and businesses to waste resources. Accordingly, the main aim of this study is to determine attractive strategies for the use of so-called fourth-generation technologies (industry 4.0) in the mining sector of Iran. To do this, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem was employed. Therefore, this study presents a new method for evaluating and prioritizing smart mine strategies using a combination of Z-number theory and fuzzy weighted VIKOR technique with a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM). In this regard, questionnaires containing five strategies (options) and 11 criteria were designed and presented to a team of eight experts. The results obtained from the prioritization of the proposed hybrid model confirm that the strategy of "provision of government incentives to mines to use up-to-date technologies" is the most appropriate alternative for implementing industries 4.0 in large-scale mines in Iran. Furthermore, a parametric sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the effectiveness of the proposed strategies. Results showed that the proposed strategy is a fixed mechanism for ranking smart mining engineering strategies. Meanwhile, the weight of the strategy does not affect their ranking.