Today’s manufacturers face a number of challenges. These include:

• Productivity: Doing more, with fewer resources at lower cost.
• Innovation: Driving improvements in production, introducing new business models, and faster introduction of new products and services.
• Customer service: Meeting, and exceeding, customer needs at the optimum cost.
• Competitiveness: Meeting the challenge of a globalized economy.

From these challenges, Industry 4.0 (I4.0) was born in Germany and launched in 2011. It refers to the introduction of a fourth Industrial Revolution in the manufacturing sector, the fusion of the cyber and physical worlds to drive value and competitiveness in a global marketplace.