Industry 4.0 was introduced in Germany as one part of the German High-Tech Strategy and means the digitization of the industrial sector. Although this gives an image of factories full of robots producing everything without humans, the reality is different especially in SMEs, that make up a great part of the German Industry.
The term means the fourth Industrial Revolution — after Mechanisation using water and steam power (1st), Mass Production with conveyor belts like Henry Ford (2nd) and Computerisation and Automation (3rd). The 4th Industrial Revolution is the next phase in Digitization and Networking applied to the manufacturing sector. A so called digital twin of all assets, including people, allows a simulation of all processes from the design to the production to the end of life of products and networks with suppliers and customers. Besides the production also the products will be smart, collecting data with sensors and smart processes include distribution and supply chains.

The seminar introduced the concepts of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0, discussing the links and showing the direction of future developments through comprehensive examples.

Here are some pictures: