Adoption of Industry 4.0 in Manufacturing Processes

Abstract

Industry 4.0, or digitization of manufacturing, is referred to as cyber physical systems, automation, and data exchange. It is no longer the future trend but is widely being used across the world by manufacturing organizations for acquiring benefits of improved performance, fewer inefficiencies, and less cost while enhancing flexibility. However, it is tough to implement the Industry 4.0 enabling technologies without any standardized approach and it becomes even tougher. The barriers include but are not limited to lack of knowledge, inability to realistically quantify the return on investment, and lack of skilled workforce. This study therefore brings out a summary of the enabling technologies for Industry 4.0 to show impact to the manufacturing industry as a strategic roadmap in implementing lean six sigma approaches. This paper can be used as a strategic roadmap to offer a holistic view of the phases that the manufacturers have to undertake along with the challenges they would face during their journey toward Industry 4.0 transition. The implementation of Industry 4.0 is quite likely to bring about the paperless factory. Changes to the infrastructure are a core finding. It is also shown that Industry 4.0 does not require significant alterations in traditional manufacturing processes.