Industry 4.0: Challenges and Opportunities in Digitalisation of Manufacturing Systems

Industry 4.0 technologies enable manufacturing companies to efficiently utilise their assets and reach a competitive advantage. These technologies provide new methods of generating revenue from data-driven services and facilitate predictive maintenance through the use of real-time data analytics. Even after more than a decade from the start of the fourth industrial revolution, manufacturing industry still struggles to upgrade to Industry 4.0-compliant technologies and standards. Currently, the barriers and enablers facing manufacturing companies to adopt new technology are not well understood, and there is a significant gap in the available literature. The authors of this paper review the challenges, opportunities, and applications facing manufacturers from an academic and industrial perspective. In order to identify these factors, a literature review and a survey were chosen. Based on the results of this study, the main challenges identified are financial constraints, a lack of knowledge, and the complexity of new technologies. The research also identified opportunities for manufacturing firms, such as improving efficiency, reducing costs, and improving quality. Potential applications for manufacturers include sharing machine status, predictive maintenance and controlling machines remotely. In the current work, these factors have been ranked from an industrial perspective.