Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is the next generation of the industry that promises to bring in flexibility in the manufacturing environment, improvising productivity and thereby resulting in customized products and goods with enhanced quality. The promising aspect of Industry 4.0 has encouraged industries to meet the different challenges associated with the production of customized products with enhanced quality and short lead-time to market. It is intelligent manufacturing that plays a crucial role in the success of Industry 4.0. With the framework of Industry 4.0, various resources are converted to intelligent objects that can sense and therefore act accordingly within the smart environment. The present chapter is, therefore, an attempt to illuminate the readers with the associated key concepts such as intelligent manufacturing, cloud manufacturing, and Industry 4.0. Key enabling technologies such as big data analytics, cyber-physical systems, Internet of things, information and communication technology and cloud computing have been discussed in this chapter. The chapter also provides an overview of platforms in intelligent manufacturing and on few emerging trends in intelligent manufacturing. The chapter finally concludes with future perspectives for intelligent manufacturing in the context of Industry 4.0.

The world is experiencing the Fourth Industrial Revolution over the years. With the continual progress, the working environment is also changing rapidly in a direction to achieve substantial benefits. Various manufacturing-related activities are now being automated and are linked with another within a company. However, with the network of machines, one of the major challenges is that of data management. Management of humongous data is done using cloud computing, Internet of things or cyber-physical systems. With the constantly changing manufacturing environment, the personnel involved will have to learn the new skills and adapt to these changes that will ultimately aid in the enhancement of their performances. Manufacturing environment with both the technological as well as the human improvements will result in enhanced productivity, quality of product, reduced manufacturing time and hence the product prices. With the advancements in the manufacturing environment, the concept of mass customization will be easy to realize. The present chapter deals to reflect the changing role of process planner to product planner. Product planner in the realm of Industry 4.0 is a software that is connected to other parts in a supply chain. This software generates the order of scheduling, order of operations and process plan using advanced optimization algorithms. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the product planner that aids in automatically planning, scheduling and operation sequencing.

Industry 4.0 (I 4.0) has resulted in enhanced productivity and mass customization through new technological advances and methodologies. The new approaches need to be flawlessly introduced in the company given the resistance from the workforce to accept the same. The transition, however, cannot be accepted overnight. The main reasons being high capital investments and lack of required skills within the workforce. The very aim of the present chapter is to identify the various job roles in the companies ready to accept I 4.0 environment.

Management of production and manufacturing processes has been automatized in the Industry 4.0 era. This has been possible with the development of more complex IT infrastructure resulting into modified network and frameworks. However, with the modifications comes the risks. The framework comprises of connections between manufacturing systems, objects, activities and humans. Owing to the connections and real time processing of data, frameworks have become more complex. Furthermore, from time to time, there is always requirement to upgrade the existing management infrastructure, production infrastructure and the related technologies. This is because of the volume of data generated and the demand for mass customization of products. As such the risks associated under such environment is inevitable. The theme of the present chapter is to illuminate its readers with the aspects of risk management in Industry 4.0 era and its implementation through a dedicated framework.

The present chapter reviews on the cost and the efficiency gains associated with the infrastructure and therefore the implementation of Industry 4.0. The feasibility of its adoption by the manufacturing units is argued in perspective of the internal capabilities of Industry 4.0 to be the driving agent for creation of the competitive advantage. Importance of lean manufacturing as a key supporter for Industry 4.0 implementation has been presented in this chapter. Lean methods are the key enablers for successful implementation of I 4.0. The chapter also puts forth to discuss the technical aspects of Industry 4.0 and the importance of the socio-technical requirements resulting into successful implementation of Industry 4.0.

Sustainable business models have been established in the digital and automated environment. However, the existence of such business models is still not mainstream. Sustainable manufacturing has ample opportunities in the market as there is a need to design products that promote the concept of repair, recycling and longevity. Efficiency of the models is not only the sole objective but these models also take into consideration the lesser use of raw materials and recycling of manufactured products. All these proponents of the sustainable business model result in changing of the value proposition, customer relationship and also affects the supply chain. The present chapter illuminates the readers with the potential scenarios for such business models in the backdrop of Industry 4.0.