Revisiting industry 4.0: A new definition

Abstract

Growing significance of big data in modern industry is becoming a serious challenge. Manufacturing stores data more than any other sector. Therefore, Industry 4.0 is introduced. However, this phenomenon and most of its enabling technologies are not well defined and they are still under-research. There is a huge confusion to understand what Industry 4.0 is. Consequently, this study addresses this gap by mainly discussing the existing definitions of Industry 4.0 and proposes a new definition intending to create an understanding of the topic for academics and industrials. Moreover, some of the key challenges in adopting Industry 4.0 strategy including data security and privacy concerns, technology standardisation, lack of experience, cost of implementation, stability and reliability are discussed. Additionally, the study explores the main benefits of Industry 4.0 implementation which include a better health and safety system of the workforce, reduced labour costs, higher levels of productivity, more efficient supply chains, big data management, and therefore increased revenues and profits.