Industry 4.0: A survey on technologies, applications and open research issues

Originally initiated in Germany, Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution, has attracted much attention in recent literatures. It is closely related with the Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber Physical System (CPS), information and communications technology (ICT), Enterprise Architecture (EA), and Enterprise Integration (EI). Despite of the dynamic nature of the research on Industry 4.0, however, a systematic and extensive review of recent research on it is has been unavailable. Accordingly, this paper conducts a comprehensive review on Industry 4.0 and presents an overview of the content, scope, and findings of Industry 4.0 by examining the existing literatures in all of the databases within the Web of Science. Altogether, 88 papers related to Industry 4.0 are grouped into five research categories and reviewed. In addition, this paper outlines the critical issue of the interoperability of Industry 4.0, and proposes a conceptual framework of interoperability regarding Industry 4.0. Challenges and trends for future research on Industry 4.0 are discussed.