The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) has yet to lead to a growth in productivity similar to the previous industrial revolutions. Current implementation of the underlying technologies follows the logic of the previous industrial revolutions in manufacturing despite the change in the nature of some of the technologies, especially the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). We conduct an exploratory case study in a medium-sized manufacturing company implementing IIoT system to highlight the importance of the embedding of organizational rules during the use of the information technology (IT) systems. The case allows us to unpack the patterns of practices, rules, and IT system uses and show that unlike previous manufacturing IT systems, IIoT implementation and assimilation moves from individual practices to organizational rules embedded in the IT and surrounding its use. Based on the analysis of practices, rules, and IT artifact interactions, we formulate an implementation process model for IIoT implementation.
