With the advent of the fourth Industrial Revolution, Manufacturing is rapidly becoming internationally interlinked. This change is offering a better and more efficient way to manage all the different processes within industry. The increase of Automation in production processes and smart systems of machines, which are able to communicate with each other and with operators through the Internet of Things, revolutionize the factory shop-floor.  Therefore, manufacturing companies should digitalize all their horizontal and vertical integrations, so to secure their sustainability in tomorrow’s industrial digital ecosystems. However, new business models and new working spaces in manufacturing create a greater need for technical knowledge, digital and soft skills development.

Scientific research needs to enhance sharing and advance specific knowledge in Smart Manufacturing systems/networks, flexible processes and automated machine tools that characterize Industry 4.0, while taking advantage of Cyber-Physical Systems, Internet of Things, Cloud Manufacturing, and Big Data Analytics.

Manufacturing scientific community is expected to generate world class breakthroughs and help in turning digital innovation into new manufacturing knowledge. Manufacturing education paradigm has to change rapidly in order to provide industry with a new generation of engineers, the Engineers 4.0, owning a digital culture. For more info, click here.

Scientific research is needed for:

• Smart Manufacturing Systems / Networks,

• Flexible Processes and Machine Tools

• Exploiting enabling technologies of Cyber-Physical Systems, Internet of Things, Cloud Manufacturing, and Big Data Analytics