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Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, Industrial IoT, Machine Learning, are expressions that are too often abused or used without knowledge of the facts.
But what exactly does it mean and where does this term come from, which we read all the time in newspapers, on social networks and hear on television?
Let’s find out in a journey that starts from its origins to arrive at its correlation with a winning business model: Cloud Computing.

This expression has its roots in north-central Germany, more specifically in Lower Saxony, in Hanover.

The German term “Industrie 4.0” is credited with HenningKagermann, Wolf-Dieter Lukas and Wolfgang Wahlster, who used it for the first time in a communication at the 2011 Hannover Messe in which they announced the Zukunftsprojekt Industrie 4.0.

Implemented at the end of 2013, the Industrie 4.0 project for the industry of the future included investments in infrastructure, schools, energy systems, research institutions and companies to modernize the German production system and bring German manufacturing back to the top of the world, making it globally competitive.

The model has been a source of inspiration for all other countries. In Italy, for example, the National Industry 4.0 Plan – 2017-2020 was presented on 21 September 2016 by the then Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda and provides for a set of organic and complementary measures capable of encouraging investments for innovation and competitiveness.

The National Enterprise 4.0 Plan has been welcomed as an opportunity for all companies that want to seize the opportunities related to the fourth industrial revolution , given that the plan provides for concrete measures based on three main guidelines: operating in a logic of technological neutrality; intervene with horizontal and not vertical or sectoral actions; act on enablers.

The Future of the Jobs presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos showed that, in the coming years, technological and demographic factors will profoundly influence the evolution of work.

Cloud Computing and work flexibility are already influencing the dynamics now and will do so even more in the coming years. Including a mix of technologies including robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Industrial IoT, Machine Learning, Industry 4.0 is a Copernican revolution in the way we approach work or, for example, in the logic of manufacturing. How can this happen?

Thanks to new production models that are increasingly automated and interconnected, intelligent and communicating assets and products, a traceability and traceability of processes that leads to a collective, shared and collaborative management of information at the supply chain level, new service logics in the name of cloud and mobility.

Italian Industry 4.0 is currently worth €2.4 billion, +30%In 2017 in Italy its market is growing between IT solutions, technological components enabling traditional production assets and related services, which stands at a value between 2.3 and 2.4 billion euros. 90% are Industrial IoT, Analytics and Cloud Manufacturing projects.

While the knowledge of Industry 4.0 is increasing: only 2.5% of companies do not know what it is, 55% have already implemented 4.0 solutions. On average, each company has already adopted 3.7 applications, mainly IoT and Analytics.Su a sample of 236 companies, 92% of companies are aware of the measures of the National Industry 4.0 Plan, half say they have taken advantage of hyper and super-depreciation, one in four to have invested more than 3 million euros.

Around 30% of companies feel ready to face Industry 4.0, 24% intend to bridge the gap through staff training. Six out of ten will use the tax credit for training 4.0.

In this scenario, the Cloud becomes essential to quickly complete the digital transformation process of companies thanks to the guidance and support of specialized technological players.

Its main advantage is that it allows companies to radically and profoundly rethink all digitization processes. Companies use organizational and process models to ensure greater competitiveness at national and international level.

The system on which Cloud Manufacturing is based, which provides easy accessibility by different users regardless of their location, allows you to adapt perfectly to this production system.

Artificial Intelligence, Industrial IoT, Machine Learning, are all empty terms without having an upstream corporate Cloud Division as a governance unit over all technological innovation and data management processes.

That’s why this business model is catching on and establishing itself. Only in this way are costs spread over the entire production chain, leading to greater production and flexibility.

Cloud Manufacturing also includes Industrial IoT and Manufacturing-as-a-Service , which uses the Cloud to enable new production technology.