Emerging technologies for smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 require investments in technologies and competence for the manufacturing firm to stay in business. While upgrading the installed base is necessary to meet the future requirements, such investments may come with challenging sustainability dichotomies that calls for innovative solutions. This paper presents an investigation of small automation technology solution providers enabling advanced upgrading of their customers' production systems. Upgrading existing manufacturing technology could contribute to efficient resource management, addressing 10R processes (i.e. Refuse, Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Refurbish, Remanufacture, Repurpose, Recycle, and Recover), as well as enhanced resilience for the manufacturing company.