Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 refers to ‘smart’ and connected industrial systems designed to sense, predict, and interact with the physical world that support production in real time. 

The vision of Industry 4.0 is built in combining a number of technological innovationsincluding AI, Big Data and analytics, autonomous robots, simulation, system integration, IoT, additive manufacturing, and augmented reality. 

The World Economic Forum estimates that the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies will lead to an increase in production line availability of 5 to 15% while creating opportunities for energy economics and sustainability. 

In spite of such incentives, a large majority of organizations are struggling to capture the full potential of Industry 4.0 transformation due to challenges in the vertical or horizontal integration of these systems.

In the articles reviewed below, the authors discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of current projects in this area, the drivers and added value of Industry 4.0 technologies in addressing various production and distribution challenges.

They conclude that the future success of Industry 4.0 will depend upon developing a long-term commitment to digital manufacturing, seating a strategic and value-driven approach to smart manufacturing, formalizing a proposition for an end to end value chain, and promoting investments and facilitating financing for the deployment of the associated technologies.