Industry 4.

0 and the fourth industrial revolution: definition, origins, benefits,

challenges, components, strategy, cyber-physical systems, building blocks and
evolutions your guide to Industrie 4.0.

IoT (Internet of Things), the convergence of IT and OT, rapid application

development, digital twin simulation models, cyber-physical systems, advanced
robots and cobots, additive manufacturing, autonomous production, consistent
engineering across the entire value chain, thorough data collection and provisioning,
horizontal and vertical integration, the cloud, big data analytics, virtual/augmented
reality and edge computing amidst a shift of intelligence towards the edge (artificial
intelligence indeed): these are some of the essential technological components of
the fourth industrial revolution.

Those are quite a lot of terms and components indeed. Yet, Industry 4.0 is a rather
vast vision and, increasingly, vast reality that also stretches beyond merely these
technological aspects. It is an end-to-end industrial transformation.

What makes it all the more fascinating (and at first sight complex) is that
convergence of two worlds which have been disconnected thus far: Information
Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) with the hyper-connected digital
industry, the bridging of digital and physical, cyber-physical production systems and
the Industrial IoT as parts (and names) that describe this fourth industrial revolution.

The integration of IT and OT is far from a fact yet, although there are differences,
depending on the Industry 4.0 projects. As it is still early days in the maturity journey
and vision of Industry 4.0, there mainly is a focus on projects (while Industry 4.0 at
a more mature level is a holistic given) and such projects can vary a lot. Projects
around energy efficiency, factory energy management and HVAC (Heating,
ventilation and air conditioning), for instance, bring us to an entirely different
world (with different solutions, skills and standards) than, for instance, additive
manufacturing, robotics or augmented reality to name a few. In the end, integration
and convergence is what it will be about as specialists will continue to be needed.
Despite the vastness, terminology and many concepts, Industry 4.0 is about
the digital transformation in and of industrial markets, in the beginning
only manufacturing, and with a big role for the Industrial IoT. And just like digital
transformation it requires a strategic view and staged approach.

In this overview we make Industrie 4.0, as its originally called, tangible and look at
and beyond the technologies and processes: as always, outcomes and goals need
to come first.
Despite the vision aspect, Industry 4.0, is a very real phenomenon, transforming
manufacturing and other sectors into connected and digital manufacturing (and
more) with additional benefits and a range of technological evolutions and
possibilities to move beyond the sheer operation dimension towards the so-called
fourth industrial revolution.

Industry 4.0 definition the digital transformation of industry and the fourth

industrial revolution

Industry 4.0 is the digital transformation of manufacturing, leveraging third platform

technologies, such as Big Data/Analytics and innovation accelerators, such as the
(Industrial) Internet of Things; and requiring the convergence of IT (Information
Technology) and OT (Operational Technology), robotics, data, artificial
intelligence and manufacturing processes to realize connected factories, smart
decentralized manufacturing, self-optimizing systems and the digital supply chain in
the information-driven cyber-physical environment of the 4th industrial
revolution (sometimes called 4IR).

Industry 4.0 also stands for the fourth industrial revolution as such. It is a new stage
in the organization and control regarding the end-to-end value chain across the life
cycle of products whereby increasing demand of customers for personalization is a
driving force and flexibility, as-a-service models and the use of information
technology go hand in hand with a move towards more autonomous decision
making, a changing role for the workforce, new industrial organizational and
collaborative paradigms and connected cyber-physical systems with security by
design and turning data from various IT and OT systems into intelligence, decisions
and new business models as leading principles.

The initial goals in Industry 4.0 typically are automation, (manufacturing) process
improvement and productivity/production optimization; the more mature goals are
innovation and the transition to new business models and revenue sources with
information and services as cornerstones.
Industry 4.0 is also called smart industry, intelligent industry, smart factory or
smart manufacturing. In many senses it is related to the Industrial Internet and since
2016 the Industrial Internet Consortium and Industry 4.0 platform, Plattform
Industrie 4.0, indeed started collaborating.

This is probably not the shortest Industry 4.0 definition ever and it does contain some
terms we might need to explain further such as the third platform and innovation
accelerators as they exist in the DX (digital transformation) economy, as well as the
integration of IT and OT, which is key in the cyber-physical context of Industry 4.0
as well see.

A shorter definition of Industry 4.0: the information-intensive transformation of

manufacturing in a connected environment of data, people, processes, services,
systems and production assets with the generation, leverage and utilization of
actionable information as a way and means to realize the smart factory and new
manufacturing ecosystems.

The original definition of Industry 4.0 (or better: Industrie 4.0)

The definition of Industrie 4.0 as proposed in 2011 was pretty lengthy too. In a paper,
entitled Industrie 4.0 Smart Manufacturing for the Future, GTAI (Germany Trade
and Invest) looked at the questions what is smart industry (a synonym of Industry
4.0)and what Industrie 4.0 means.

An extract: Smart industry or INDUSTRIE 4.0 refers to the technological evolution

from embedded systems to cyber-physical systemsINDUSTRIE 4.0 represents
the coming fourth industrial revolution on the way to an Internet of Things, Data and
Services. Decentralized intelligence helps create intelligent object networking and
independent process management, with the interaction of the real and virtual worlds
representing a crucial new aspect of the manufacturing and production process.

And its not done! More in the paper (PDF opens) and in our Industry 4.0 definitions
list below.
What is Industry 4.0 (according to several sources)?

If you wonder what Industry 4.0 is in practice, youll find more on the various aspects
and evolutions further below.

However, if you need a description Industry 4.0 and seek an Industry 4.0 definition,
which you can use for whatever purpose, take a look at the Industry 4.0 definitions
we gathered from various other sources which, in many cases, are also excellent
starting points to learn more about the pretty broad reality of Industry 4.0, the fourth
industrial revolution and all its aspects.

Obviously not all definitions of Industry 4.0 are the same. Its as Marijn ten Wolde of
Bosch Siemens Home Appliances said in an interview: Industry 4.0 has a different
meaning or for each company. Even within Bosch there isnt one definition of
Industry 4.0. Its dependent on the strategy for each factory. The most important
principles for manufacturing are connectivity and operational excellence.

The MES (manufacturing execution system) plays a central role in initial stages as
the digital hub of information and connectivity, just as the BMS (building
management system) is the digital hub of information and connectivity in smart
building automation.

What Industry 4.0 is not

Talking about the definition of Industry 4.0 and the fact that there isnt one definition
a few remarks though.

It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing and

cognitive computing. Industry 4.0 creates what has been called a smart factory.

This Industry 4.0 definition is close to the original definitions but not entirely correct
or at the very least not correct anymore. Industry 4.0 goes beyond the factory, let
alone the smart factory. Industry 4.0 is also about more than automation and data
exchange (e.g. the key role of workers, the key role of energy efficiency etc). More
about some of these aspects are covered in detail when we look deeper at the
Industry 4.0 vision.

Here is why that Industry 4.0 definition is too limited and not correct in a few
bullet points:

The industrial transformation of manufacturing goes beyond the factory, let

alone the smart factory.
The Industry 4.0 vision encompasses more than automation and data
exchange in manufacturing technologies as 1) it stretches beyond
technologies and 2) looks at the end-to-end chain, including, for instance,
warehousing, logistics, recycling, energy and so forth.
As youll see the cyber-physical systems which take center stage in
Industry 4.0 are the enablers of phenomena such as smart grid, smart
logistics and even smart buildings, to indeed the smart factory. Obviously,
all these evolutions are connected.

This being said, the link with the concept of the smart factory does exist and does
come back.

https://www.i-scoop.eu/industry-4-
0/#Industry_40_definition_the_digital_transformation_of_industry_and_the_fourth_i
ndustrial_revolution