Industry 4.0 leverages latest technologies to digitize/automate almost all business process including manufacturing, maintenance, scheduling, logistics, inventory management, control/monitoring, etc by integrating and
extending manufacturing processes at both intra- and inter-organisational levels.
The technologies that enables this framework include Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), Additive Manufacturing, Cloud Computing, Augmented Reality, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its derivatives such as Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Data Analytics, etc.
Primary focus of Industry 4.0 is positioned on Business Integration, Enterprise Architecture, Sustainability, SOA, Business Process Management and Industrial Information Systems.
The following articles provide fundamental insights on the concept.
Xu, L. D., Xu, E. L., & Li, L. (2018). Industry 4.0: state of the art and future trends. International Journal of Production Research, 56(8), 2941-2962.
Laudante, E. (2017). Industry 4.0, Innovation and Design. A new approach for ergonomic analysis in manufacturing system. The Design Journal, 20(sup1), S2724-S2734.