ndustry 4.0 factories are intelligent, highly efficient and adaptive. They are integrated along the value chain and even interconnected beyond company boarders. By that, single individually customized items can be produced economically.
Industry 4.0 characteristics are:
Horizontal integration all over the value chain
Vertical integration and interconnected production facilities
Digital consistent integration in engineering
The corresponding automation technology is based on CPS (cyber-physical-systems) and the IoT (Internet-of-Things). Several challenges need to be addressed.
Equipment, storage systems and devices shall be come intelligent as CPS and shall be interconnected to each other
These CPS shall autonomously exchange information and control each other
Consistent data transparency shall be ensured to facilitate optimal decision-making
Engineering must be consistent and dynamic; production shall be quickly adaptable and flexible