Virtual Management and Cyber Tools

Production systems are not like they used to be. The twenty-first century will confront enterprises and manufacturing companies with completely novel generations of technologies, services, and products based on computer technologies. In order to meet competition on global markets and to ensure long-term success, the companies need to adapt to shorter delivery times, increasing product variability and high market volatility, by which enterprises are able to sensitively and timely react to continuous and unexpected changes. One of the major cornerstones to meet these challenges is the implementation of digital information and communication technologies into production systems, processes and technologies, which allow novel developments by combining the physical world and fast data access and data processing via the Internet (Industry 4.0) (see Fig. 13.1). Industry 4.0 is a name given to the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing and cognitive computing. Industry 4.0 is commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 fosters what has been called a “smart factory”. Within modular structured smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralized decisions. Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in real-time both internally and across organizational services offered and used by participants of the value chain. There are four design principles in Industry 4.0. These principles support companies in identifying and implementing Industry 4.0 scenarios (Helmold & Terry, 2021):