In the dates packaging industry, where changeovers, micro-stoppages, and seal/label integrity drive export acceptance, Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is the pivotal, integrative metric that aligns operational improvement with IR4.0 capabilities. This PRISMA-guided systematic review (2015–October 2025) evaluates the technological, organizational, and workforce readiness of Pakistan’s dates packaging SMEs to implement OEE in an IR4.0 paradigm, identifies adoption enablers/barriers, and proposes a phased roadmap. Searches across Scopus, Web of Science, Xplore, and ScienceDirect (supplemented by policy/industry sources) included food/agri-food/packaging or comparable discrete-manufacturing studies reporting OEE (or Availability/Performance/Quality) and/or IR4.0 technologies (IoT/IIoT, CMMS, machine vision, predictive maintenance/TPM 4.0, digital twins). Evidence, synthesized via the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) lens and Resource-Based View (RBV) theories, shows that sensitization, PdM/TPM 4.0, vision inspection, and digital twins consistently improve OEE and related KPIs, yet adoption is constrained by leadership, data-governance, infrastructure, and skills deficits. Despite a supportive macro-environment, date-specific OEE and IR4.0 deployments remain emergent. The review provides a concise, connectivity-first roadmap that couples OEE standardization and IR 4.0 with the progressive integration of vision systems and digital twins, underpinned by workforce upskilling and governance, to accelerate export-grade performance.
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