2015 12th International Conference on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (FSKD)

Industry 4.0: Towards Future Industrial

Opportunities and Challenges
Keliang Zhou Taigang Liu, Lifeng Zhou
College of Electrical Engineering & Automation College of Electrical Engineering & Automation
Jiangxi University of Science and Technology Jiangxi University of Science and Technology
Ganzhou, China Ganzhou, China

Abstract—Industry 4.0 (the fourth industrial revolution) emerging from an industrial revolution, which is led by
encapsulates future industry development trends to achieve more intelligent manufacturing. The concept of Industry 4.0 is based
intelligent manufacturing processes, including reliance on Cyber- on the integration of information and communication
Physical Systems (CPS), construction of Cyber-Physical technologies and industrial technology, and is mainly
Production Systems (CPPS), and implementation and operation dependent on building a Cyber-Physical System (CPS) to
of smart factories. This paper introduces relevant aspects of realize a digital and intelligent factory, in order to promote
Industry 4.0 in relation to strategic planning, key technologies, manufacturing to become more digital, information-led,
opportunities, and challenges. Strategic planning includes customized, and green. The purpose of Industry 4.0 is to build
construction of a CPS network, discussion of two major themes
a highly flexible production model of personalized and digital
which are based on the smart factory and intelligent production,
products and services, with real-time interactions between
achieving three integrations (horizontal integration, vertical
integration and end-to-end integration) and achieving eight plans people, products and devices during the production process.
which consist of the formulation of system standardization, For example, a factory that accepts consumer orders and
efficient management etc. Finally, it referred to the directly produces, and ships the required product will dispense
enlightenment for China’s manufacturing industries, to build of separate sales and circulation channels, which will have a
China’s Industry 4.0. strong impact on the traditional e-commerce sales model.
Industry 4.0 will affect not only German industry, or even
Keywords-Industry 4.0; CPS; CPPS; cloud computing; big data; international industrial development but will become a driving
intelligent manufacturing force [1] which will change traditional methods of industrial
production, and guide future manufacturing. The future of
I. INTRODUCTION manufacturing will see industrial production systems become
more intelligent through use of digital systems. Meanwhile,
The “Industrial 4.0” concept appeared first in an article there will be more so-called knowledge-based factories and
published by the German government in November 2011, as a thinking type factories which will greatly improve efficiency
high-tech strategy for 2020. After mechanization, and competitiveness in factories. Germany’s electrical industry
electrification and information, the fourth stage of association has predicted that Industry 4.0 will increase
industrialization was named “Industry 4.0”. In April 2013, the industrial productivity by 30%.
term “Industry 4.0” appeared again at an industrial fair in
Hannover Germany, and quickly rose as the German national Within the first three industrial revolutions, humans have
strategy. In recent years, “Industry 4.0”has been widely witnessed and created mechanical, electrical and information
discussed, and has become a hotspot for most global industries technology, which were aimed at improving productivity of
and the information industry. Industry 4.0 will be a new industrial processes. The first industrial revolution improved
industrial revolution, which will have a great influence on efficiency through the use of hydropower, increased use of
international industry. Since China’s manufacturing is steam power and development of machine tools; the second
currently in a state of industrial transformation and upgrading, industrial revolution brought electricity and mass production
Industry 4.0 provides China with more opportunities and (assembly lines); the third industrial revolution further
challenges that we should be focussing on. accelerated automation using electronics and information
technology, and now the fourth industrial revolution is
II. STRATEGIES AND CONTENTS OF INDUSTRY 4.0 emerging which is led by CPS technology to integrate the real
world with the information age for future industrial
Germany is one of the most competitive global development. Figure 1 displays the four stages of the industrial
manufacturing industries, and is an equipment manufacturing revolution.
industry’s global leader in many fields, including BMW,
Porsche and Volkswagen in the automotive industry, the sports
brand Adidas, the electrical and electronics company Siemens,
and so on. In response to the European debt crisis, the German
Government presented a strategy for Industry 4.0, in order to
further consolidate and promote global German manufacturing
clout. Industry 4.0 is considered to be the fourth industry

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 Degree of
complexity
engineered numerical integration across the entire value chain,
From Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0 which is implemented on the premise of every terminal having
Fourth industrial
revolution:
a digital value chain with integration between different
Third industrial
based on Cyber companies, which will maximize customization. Industry 4.0
Physical Systems
Second industrial revolution: (CPS) enables ubiquitous sensors, embedded terminal systems,
revolution: the information age
First industrial
revolution: the age of electricity intelligent control systems, and communication facilities to
the age of steam form an intelligent network within the CPS. Interconnection
may be man to man, man to machine, machine to machine or
service to service, in order to achieve complete horizontal,
In 2013, the Industry 4.0 vertical and end-to-end integration.
In 1969, the first concept was officially
In 1870, the
programmable presented
In 1784, the
first machinery
first production
logic controller 4) Achievement of eight planning objectives
line Cincinnati
(PLC)
loom slaughterhouse
Eight planning objectives form the basis of achieving
1800 1900 2000 2013 Timeline Industry 4.0. The specific content of these objectives is as
Source: DFKI(2011)
follows:
Figure 1. The four stages of the industrial revolution
z Standardization of systems and building a reference
In order to better transform from Industry 3.0 to Industry architecture. A set of uniform standards needs to be
4.0, Germany has developed a strategic plan to implement developed so that a network between different factories
Industry 4.0.The main points of this plan can be summarized as: and companies can be connected and integrated.
building a network, researching two major themes, realization
of three integrations, and achievement of eight planning z Efficient management. Factories of the future will have
objectives [2]. large and complex systems which will need to be
efficiently managed. Appropriate plans need to be made
1) Building a network and an explanatory model needs to be developed to
optimize the management.
A specialized network must be built known as a Cyber-
Physical System (CPS), which is the core foundation of z Establishment of a comprehensive and reliable industrial
Industry 4.0. The CPS connects all physical devices to the broadband infrastructure. Industry 4.0 enforces strict
Internet, and incorporates five functions: computing, criteria on communication networks, and its
communications, precision control, coordination and autonomy. communication networks must meet these criteria and be
Through integration of the virtual world and the physical world, reliable, comprehensive and of high quality.
smart products and smart production are made possible.
z Safety and security. It should be ensured that the
2) Researching two major themes production facilities and product itself do not pose a threat
to people and the environment, while preventing product
The smart factory and intelligent production are the two
misuse or unauthorized access to production facilities.
themes under research. The “smart factory” is a key component
of future intelligent infrastructure, which focuses on intelligent z Organization and design of work. With content, processes,
manufacturing systems and processes, and implementation of and changes in the environment, making higher demands
networked distributed production facilities. “Intelligent on production management, to achieve humane,
production” focuses on human-computer interaction, logistics automation, green production and management.
management, 3D printing and other advanced technologies,
which can be applied to the entire industrial process to create a z Staff training and continuing professional development.
highly flexible, personalized and networked industrial chain. In Enterprises have a responsibility and obligation to train
a smart factory of the future, there will be not just human- their employees. It is necessary to establish lifelong
computer interaction, but also things-to-things interaction, learning and continuing professional development
which aims to create better services to meet customers’ needs. programs to help workers cope with new demands from
The combination of smart devices with ICT (Information the jobs and skills.
Communication Technology) is also the basis of these two z Establishing a regulatory framework. It is clear that new
major themes. innovations bring new problems, such as enterprise data,
3) Realization of three integrations liability, personal data and trade restrictions. There is a
requirement for standards, model contracts, agreements,
The three integrations are horizontal integration, vertical auditing and other appropriate means of control.
integration, and end-to-end integration. “Horizontal
integration” refers to integration between a resource and an z Improving the efficiency of resource use. The use of new
information network within the value chain, in order to achieve materials, new processes, new technologies and other
the seamless cooperation between enterprises and provide a measures can improve the resource use efficiency, while
real-time product and service. “Vertical integration” refers to reducing and balancing resource utilization on the
networked manufacturing systems within the intelligent environment caused by pollution and destruction.
factories of the future and personalized custom manufacturing In summary, the core of the German “Industry 4.0” strategy
as alternatives to traditional fixed production processes, such as is based on intelligent manufacturing using CPS technology, to
assembly-line production. “End-to-end integration” means

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shift centralized production towards decentralized production, Li jie believes that Industry 4.0 is actually equivalent to
to shift popular products towards personalized products and to CPS [7]. In some sense, both CPS and Industry 4.0 have a
increase users participations, so that each user can experience similar role in the development of industries of the future, as
the fun of creating products. both promote industrial innovation. As CPS technology
develops [8, 9], it will occupy an important position in many
III. KEY TECHNOLOGIES FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 fields, including motor vehicle manufacturing, machinery and
Industry 4.0 is a complex and flexible system involving heavy industry, iron and steel metallurgy, energy production,
digital manufacturing technology, network communication and transport and logistics.
technology, computer technology, automation technology and B. Mobile Internet and Internet of Things Technologies
many other areas. On the one hand, the basis of its
implementation is based on digital design and simulation, Since the birth of the Internet, interconnection between
highly automated manufacturing processes, production data computers has become a reality. The mobile Internet has
management networking and, production process management, achieved communication and contact between people across
converting the whole process to access of knowledge and the large distances. Both have changed the way that people
laws of management, mining, analysis, judgment and decision- interact, and the Internet and the mobile Internet have quickly
making. On the other hand, Industry 4.0 is based on the CPS, infiltrated and influenced modern industrial systems.
which uses computing, communications and control Germany’s Industry 4.0 strategy has observed that we will
technologies in tight collaboration to achieve real-time sensing make more use of the Internet and Internet of things for
intelligent production systems, dynamic control, and interactions between human and machines enabling intelligent
information services. We discuss the key technologies of manufacturing and producing the fourth revolution. As
Industry 4.0, which mainly refer to the CPS, the mobile computing power and the storage capacity of smart mobile
Internet and the Internet of things, cloud computing, big data devices increases, mobile terminals and mobile APP will be
and advanced analytical techniques. used in the near future to design, manufacture and manage the
industrialization process, and will become the “new normal”
A. From CPS to CPPS (Cyber-Physical Production Systems) for the industry. As shown in Figure 3, smart mobile terminal
The concept of CPS was first defined in 2006 by Dr. James applications in industry[10], can easily control and monitor
Truchard, who introduces the concept that the virtual world intelligent processes in factories [11].
and the physical world can be merged by CPS. In fact, a CPS
is an integrated system of computing, communications and
control [3, 4]. Industry 4.0 makes use of CPS technology to
build a CPPS [5, 6] platform ( as shown in Figure 2), which
connects virtual space with the physical world, to enable
equipment in a smart factory to be more intelligent, thus
creating better production conditions enabling smart
production.

Figure 3. Smart mobile terminal applications in industry [10]

As network communication technology develops, there is a

vision that things will be able to “talk” to each other, blending
the virtual world with the physical world, which has emerged
as the Internet of things (IoT). The IoT includes radio
frequency identification (RFID) devices, infrared sensors,
global positioning systems, laser scanners and other
information sensing devices and other arbitrary objects, which
can be connected to the Internet according to an agreed
protocol, for information exchange and communication, in
order to realize intelligent identification, location, tracking,
monitoring, and management [12]. The role of IoT in Industry
4.0 is also indispensable.
Figure 2. CPPS platform in Industry 4.0 C. Cloud Computing Technology
Cloud computing has originated from a search engine
platform, and is a computing technology that can offer low

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cost and high performance. It is currently an important
platform that provides various Internet services. Virtualization
technology provides cloud computing with flexible extensions,
dynamic allocation, resource sharing and other features. The
cloud computing model provides services to the user including
software, hardware, platforms, and other IT infrastructure
resources as required. The user simply uses resources
depending on application needs, relying on on-demand access
to computers and storage systems.
Figure 4. Different challenges of Industry 4.0
D. Big Data and Advanced Analysis Techniques
In manufacturing, one or more microprocessors may be A. The development of smart devices
installed on multiple machines to collect production data. A factory operating with Industry 4.0 technologies is more
Ubiquitous sensors and microprocessors have generated a intelligent than any factory we have ever known, and will
huge source of data with a size beyond traditional scales. require more intervention from artificial devices (including
Conventional database technology has difficulties in robots), reducing the involvement of employees. However,
completing the capture, storage, management and analysis of different factories need different smart device configurations,
this massive data collection. In terms of management, and smart device development requires much time and money
manufacturing companies need to manage a wide range of before it can be put into production in an Industry 4.0 factory.
data, involving large amounts of structured data and B. The construction of the network environment
unstructured data, such as product data, operational data, value
chain data, and external data. As mass customization and The network environment in Industry 4.0 mainly refers to a
network collaboration is developed, manufacturing companies CPPS platform using CPS technology. Building the CPPS
will also need to accept many consumers’ personalized data platform [13] is a complex project that is currently limited by
from the Web in real time, while also managing more types of various conditions, such as CPS challenges, including the
relevant data. Big data technology is using new processing following four aspects [14].
modes to gain valuable information quickly from various data 1) Cooperation between different systems
types, in order to achieve in-depth understanding, gain insight Firstly, the collaborative relationship between physical
and make discoveries for accurate decision making. In future systems and computing systems should be considered. From
industry, workshop equipment within the CPS will integrate the perspective of the physical environment, a CPS has spatio-
sensor data and enterprise information systems. During this temporal properties and computing systems need to guarantee
process, large volumes of data will be uploaded to a cloud accurate and real-time decision-making and process control by
computing data center to store, analyze, and form decisions, the event handler in order to ensure accurate physical system
which will guide the production process. Big data and big data control in time and space. Then, synergy between the physical
analysis will bring a range of benefits to manufacturing system and the information network system needs to be
companies, such as optimizing processes, reducing costs, and considered. Information network systems achieve ubiquitous
improving operational efficiencies. communication access, which enables physical devices to
exchange information. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a
collaborative model between the physical system and the
IV. CHALLENGES FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 information network system for qualitative and quantitative
It is not an easy thing to achieve Industry 4.0, and it is likely analysis. Finally, we need to consider computing systems and
to take ten or more years to realize. Currently, Industry 4.0 is a information network system synergy. Due to the security of
vision for the future, because it involves many aspects, and physical devices which have object-oriented requirements, and
faces many types of difficulties and challenges, including reliability, they are essentially different from a general-
scientific challenges, technological challenges, economic purpose computing system. Thus, it is necessary to study the
challenges, social problems and political issues (see in Figure dynamics of the physical system and each discrete and
4). In this paper, we mainly discuss some of science and sequential, reconfigurable computing systems and the abstract
technology challenges, such as the development of smart system of information networks.
devices, the construction of the network environment, big data 2) CPS modeling and model integration
analysis and processing, and digital production. A brief The CPS model should be considered by first showing how
introduction of these challenges is given as follows: computing and physical processes interact and their behavior
when merged. A typical CPS model needs to consider the
physical environment, software and hardware platforms, and
network models as well as any further scheduling software
required, network delays, power consumption and other
functional and non-functional factors. Secondly, the
characteristics of the CPS itself should be considered, which
contains both physical components and computing parts, so

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involves several different types of computing models. The physical world become integrated, network security issues are
calculation process uses discrete logical time while the becoming increasingly serious for the digital manufacturing.
physical process uses continuous physical time. Events in the There are many problems to be solved in relation to how
computing world usually refer to messages, exceptions or network security can be ensured, and how cyber espionage can
interrupts, but events in the physical world probably refer to be dealt with to prevent hackers and other cyber crimes caused
the position, shape, and other physical properties. It is difficult by the infringement [16].
to use a variety of computing models to build a CPS modeling
with a unified framework. Finally, it is necessary to develop a V. CONCLUSION
new CPS modeling language to adapt to the complex In the era of Industry 4.0, global manufacturing has many
environment. We depend on the traditional model and the opportunities and challenges. At the same time, Industry 4.0
description of CPS, but the description of CPS uncertainties introduces some implications for China’s manufacturing.
remains. CPS modeling and model integration are still a huge Although China has become the world's second largest
challenge. economy, there are some problems with China’s industry,
3) The integration of CPS such as uneven development, low productivity, and overall
The integration of CPS includes integration of production levels that still lag behind developed countries.
heterogeneous components, integration of methods, and Development of China’s manufacturing industry needs to be
integration of tools. The first challenge is how to design a combined with China’s own situation, and can not adopt the
flexible interface to support different heterogeneous same model of industrial development used for progressive
components, as well as supporting adaptive combination industrial development in Western countries. China should
between components. Secondly, a CPS includes many fields develop its own industrial development model, namely the
which require careful consideration, since each field has a parallel development of Industry 2.0, Industry 3.0 and Industry
self-contained set of models, languages and methods, which 4.0. in order to a achieve the development model, four
makes it difficult to extract commonality between transitions require completion: factor-driven to innovation-
heterogeneous systems in a CPS. Finally, the design and driven change; a move from low-cost competitive advantage
development of CPS need a complete tool chain to support to competitive advantages in quality and efficiency; a move
CPS modeling, simulation, analysis, synthesis, and the from resource consumption, pollutant emissions and more
development of various computing and communications extensive manufacturing to green manufacturing changes; and
components. development from production manufacturing to service-
4) Verification and testing of CPS oriented manufacturing. The development of China’s
Although the combination of different heterogeneous manufacturing is diversified and it is unrealistic that all
components makes the CPS behavior extremely complex, the industries can reform to an Industrial 4.0 upgrade. The key lies
CPS plays an important role in the entire system. Therefore, in innovation, including technology innovation, knowledge
the CPS needs full rigorous validation and testing before innovation and management innovation which will lead to
application in order to ensure that the system is designed to China’s manufacturing developments being based on Chinese
meet various demands. However, there are no uniform wisdom, building China’s version of “Industrial 4.0” to
standards and specifications for verification and testing of the increase contribution to global industries.
CPS.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
C. Big data analysis and processing
The authors would like to thank the National Natural
All of the elements in Industry 4.0, including the equipment, Science Foundation of China (No. 61363011), and the Science
machines, production, applications, products and services will and Technology Project of Jiangxi, China (No. GJJ13429) for
continue to generate data, which by nature is large and their support in this research.
complex. Efficient real-time integration and analysis of data in
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