Definition

Adaptability as a chance

Products, such as machines and automobiles, form the core of German industry. In the future, their design and production will become increasingly complex in order to satisfy global demands concerning sustainability, personalization and regionalization, as well as stay abreast of international competition.

This development can only be realized through the use of so-called cyber-physical systems. These are “intelligent” machines, tools, components or even orders, which communicate with each another via the Internet in realtime. They use sensors to collect physical data, such as production, logistics, engineering, coordination and management processes, and influence physical operations with the aid of actuators as well as Internet services.

They are also linked to one another via digital networks and utilize internationally-available data and services. They have multimodal man-machine interfaces enabling the use of innovative functions, services and features. Decentralized, autonomic systems are key to maximizing productivity in this environment.

The race to develop the next generation of manufacturing systems has started and it can only be won by integrating Industrie 4.0 into existing systems. For this reason, this topic has also been included in the German government’s plan of action in Hightech-Strategie 2020.