Industrie 4.0: Between Technology and Concepts

In late 2011, a new term entered the world of manufacturing: "Industrie 4.0." Half concept, half initiative, and clearly a catchphrase; the term was introduced in Germany by the Fraunhofer Institute and the German federal government, with support from a large number of suppliers. Industrie 4.0 describes a vision for the future of industry that combines information and manufacturing technologies to take advantage of the information surrounding industrial processes. Several other concepts and government-backed initiatives such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (SMLC) have similar ambitions. As a result, there is currently some confusion about the Industrie 4.0 concept and potential end user benefits, as well as about the business potential for automation suppliers.

In this ARC Advisory Group Insight we will explore the history of Indus-trie 4.0 and the issues it addresses. In addition, we identify technologies that we believe will benefit from this initiative. For a related ARC re-port, see Industrie 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things.

History and Goals of Industrie 4.0

Historic Context
In the historical context, there are three aspects important to look at: technology, economy, and consumer behavior.

Regarding technology, the end of the 1990s saw the dawn of new control architectures that married information technology with traditional automation technology on the same platform, making it much easier to integrate multiple control disciplines that access common information using established IT technologies.

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Keywords: Industrie 4.0, Cyber-Physical Systems, Automation Technology, Future Manufacturing, Manufacturing Flexibility, Product Customization, ARC Advisory Group.