What Benefits do Initiatives Such as Industry 4.0 Offer for Production Locations in High-wage Countries?

According to claims made by the proponents of initiatives such as Industry 4.0, information technologies will in the future play a substantially more significant role in production processes both for the service sector and for the production of physical goods than they do today. This paper starts by discussing the origins, essence and expectations of initiatives such as Industry 4.0. It then proceeds to outline concepts and examples around such initiatives. Finally, it offers a realistic view of the likely future effects. The paper has a special focus on examples in Switzerland.