Constructing the power curve of a power generation facility integrated with complex and large-scale industrial processes is a difficult task but can be accomplished using Industry 4.0 data analytics tools. This research attempts to construct the data-driven power curve of the generator installed at a 660 MW power plant by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI)-based modeling tools. The power produced from the generator is modeled by an artificial neural network (ANN)—a reliable data analytical technique of deep learning. Similarly, the R2.ai application, which belongs to the automated machine learning (AutoML) platform, is employed to show the alternative modeling methods in using the AI approach. Comparatively, the ANN performed well in the external validation test and was deployed to construct the generator’s power curve. Monte Carlo experiments comprising the power plant’s thermo-electric operating parameters and the Gaussian noise are simulated with the ANN, and thus the power... [more]

In recent years, there has been dynamic changes in the industrial environment as a result of further innovations called Industry 4.0 (I.4.0), especially in the field of digital technology and manufacturing. Despite numerous examples of the implementation of Industry 4.0 in enterprises, there is no general framework for the implementation of Industry 4.0 with a detailed schedule. Researching the ways of implementing Industry 4.0 is still a current and unexplored area of research. The main aim of the paper is to present the concept of the theoretical framework for Industry 4.0 implementation based on selected schedules of the Industry 4.0 implementation. The paper was based on information from literature review and analysis of pilot enterprise projects to Industry 4.0 (case study) that were conducted in selected enterprises. The paper presents the key components of the framework of Industry 4.0 and the basic stage of implementing the concept in the enterprises, paying attention to their... [more]

The study of the rates of innovative development of various sectors of the modern economy makes it possible to determine the existence of a scientific and practical problem, eliciting the need for urgent identification of the reasons for non-innovative development of Oil and Gas Companies and development of the directions for innovation development. Based on a number of methods, including methods of graphical analysis, time series forecasting, construction of linear trends, correlation analysis and scenario forecasting, the authors stated the fact of the serious depth of the problem of innovative insufficiency in the oil sector in comparison with other sectors and they built six scenarios for the development of these companies. The applied methods made it possible to not only come to the conclusion that with the current level of investment in R&D in the oil and gas sector, Oil Companies may find themselves in difficult conditions, especially if breakthrough technologies show themselves... [more]

Industry 4.0 and related automation and digitization have a significant impact on competition between companies. They have to deal with the lack of financial resources to apply digital solutions in their businesses. In Slovakia, Industry 4.0 plays an important role, especially in the mechanical engineering industry (MEI). This paper aims to identify the groups of financial ratios that can be used to measure the financial performance of the companies operating in the Slovak MEI. From the whole MEI, we selected the 236 largest non-financial corporations whose ranking we obtained according to the amount of generated revenues in 2017. Using factor analysis, from eleven traditional financial ratios, we extracted four independent factors that measure liquidity (equity to liabilities ratio, quick ratio, debt ratio, net working capital to assets ratio, current ratio), profitability (return on sales, return on investments), indebtedness (financial leverage, debt to equity ratio), and activity (... [more]

Buildings are among the main protagonists of the world’s growing energy consumption, employing up to 45%. Wide efforts have been directed to improve energy saving and reduce environmental impacts to attempt to address the objectives fixed by policymakers in the past years. Meanwhile, new approaches using Machine Learning regression models surged in the modeling and simulation research context. This research develops and proposes an innovative data-driven black box predictive model for estimating in a dynamic way the interior temperature of a building. Therefore, the rationale behind the approach has been chosen based on two steps. First, an investigation of the extant literature on the methods to be considered for tests has been conducted, shrinking the field of investigation to non-recursive multi-step approaches. Second, the results obtained on a pilot case using various Machine Learning regression models in the multi-step approach have been assessed, leading to the choice of the Sup... [more]

Industry 4.0 houses diverse technologies including wireless communication and shared networks for internal and external operations. Due to the wireless nature and remote operability, the exposure to security threats is high. Cyber risk detection and mitigation are prominent for secure industrial operations and planned outcomes. In addition, the system faces the threat of intelligence attacks, security standards issues, privacy concerns and scalability problems. The cyber risk related research problems influence overall data transmission in industry wireless communication networks. For augmenting communication security through cyber risk detection, this article introduces an Explicit Risk Detection and Assessment Technique (ERDAT) for cyber threat mitigation in the industrial process. A fuzzy harmony search algorithm powers this technique for identifying the risk and preventing its impact. The harmony search algorithm mimics the adversary impact using production factors such as process... [more]

Smart factories are equipped with Industry 4.0 technologies including smart sensors, digital twin, big data, and embedded software solutions. The application of these technologies contributes to better decision-making, and this real-time decision-making can improve the efficiency of both manufacturing and related logistics processes. In this article, the transformation of conventional milk-run-based in-plant supply solutions into a cyber−physical milk-run supply is described, where the application of Industry 4.0 technologies makes it possible to make real-time decisions regarding scheduling, routing, and resource planning. After a literature review, this paper introduces the structure of Industry 4.0 technologies supported by milk-run-based in-plant supply. A mathematical model of milk-run processes is described including both scheduling and routing problems of in-plant supply. This mathematical model makes it possible to analyze the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on the efficien... [more]

Researchers and practitioners argue that in the global context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also labelled Industry 4.0, the regional dimension of industrial development remains equally essential. A region that effectively implements the concept of Industry 4.0 can accelerate by enhancing the manufacturing energy efficiency, thus contributing to the goals of the “Green Deal” policy. Therefore, to support the policy-making process, it is necessary to develop analytical tools exploring the determinants of the Industry 4.0 development. This paper presents a methodology of strategic analysis of a region in terms of the Industry 4.0 development potential. The core of the methodology is an extended Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. The study identifies regional strengths and weaknesses, external incentives and disincentives, internal opportunities and threats, and external opportunities and threats with regard to the development of Industry 4.0, relate... [more]

Industry 4.0 has radically been transforming the production processes and systems with the adoption of enabling technologies, such as Internet of things (IoT), big data, additive manufacturing (AM), and cloud computing. In this context, sensors are essential to extract information about production, spare parts, equipment health, and environmental conditions necessary for improving many aspects of industrial processes (flexibility, efficiency, costs, etc.). Sensors should be placed everywhere (on machines, smart devices, objects, and tools) inside the factory to monitor in real-time physical quantities such as temperature, vibrations, deformations that could affect the production. Printed electronics (PE) offers techniques to produce unconventional sensor and systems or to make conventional objects “smart”. This work aims to analyze innovative PE technologies—inkjet printing and aerosol jet printing in combination with photonic curing—as manufacturing technologies for electronics and se... [more]

Sustainability is among the most important directions in global development. The challenge today is to reconcile the fastest possible economic growth and the pursuit of prosperity with concern for the environment. One of the important problems of modern economies and societies is to reduce overall consumption and implement new patterns of sustainable consumption and production. The main aim of this article was to analyze consumer preferences in terms of purchasing personalized production offered by implementing the concept of Industry 4.0 and ensuring sustainable consumption and production (SCP). Based on the analysis of the literature and the results of our own research, an attempt was made to estimate the impact of personalized production offered by the Industry 4.0 concept on SCP and thus the sustainable development of the economy. This article presents the results of a survey conducted on a selected group of consumers, focusing on learning about expectations, consumer preferences f... [more]

Currently, the concept of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is reaching most companies by changing the characteristics of their production systems. The aim of this study was to determine the possibilities of applying I4.0 concepts and tools to the product development process in a small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME)—a food processing technology supplier that offers individually tailored solutions. The study employs the case study methodology along with conceptual studies. Based on the available I4.0 concepts/technologies, the areas of the process that could be improved were identified. The study concludes with proposing several modifications in the process in the context of I4.0. Some of the process stages can be shortened by implementing I4.0 tools. It was found that the length of the process can be shortened from 36 to 26 months, and possible gains also include energy savings. Technological tools, referred to as augmented/virtual reality, along with simulations and virtual manufacturing, seem t... [more]

Light-emitting diode (LED) digital twins enable the implementation of fast digital design flows for LED-based products as the lighting industry moves towards Industry 4.0. The LED digital twin developed in the European project Delphi4LED mimics the thermal-electrical-optical behavior of a physical LED. It consists of two parts: a package-level LED compact thermal model (CTM), coupled to a chip-level multi-domain model. In this paper, the accuracy and computation time reductions achieved by using LED CTMs, compared to LED detailed thermal models, in 3D system-level models with a large number of LEDs are investigated. This is done up to luminaire-level, where all heat transfer mechanisms are accounted for, and up to 60 LEDs. First, we characterize a physical phosphor-converted white high-power LED and apply LED-level modelling to produce an LED detailed model and an LED CTM following the Delphi4LED methodology. It is shown that the steady-state junction temperature errors of the LED CTM,... [more]

Application of a high-efficiency voice communication systems based on broadband over power line-power line communication (BPL-PLC) technology in medium voltage networks, including hazardous areas (like the oil and mining industry), as a redundant mean of wired communication (apart from traditional fiber optics and electrical wires) can be beneficial. Due to the possibility of utilizing existing electrical infrastructure, it can significantly reduce deployment costs. Additionally, it can be applied under difficult conditions, thanks to battery-powered devices. During an emergency situation (e.g., after coal dust explosion), the medium voltage cables are resistant to mechanical damage, providing a potentially life-saving communication link between the supervisor, rescue team, paramedics, and the trapped personnel. The assessment of such a system requires a comprehensive and accurate examination, including a number of factors. Therefore, various models were tested, considering: different... [more]

The main aim of the manuscript is the identification of key research problems in the field of sustainable development, in the era of implementing the Industry 4.0 concept. The manuscript presents results of the bibliometric analysis in the subject: “Sustainable Industry 4.0”. The bibliometric analysis was realized in three segments: Sustainability, Industry 4.0 and Sustainable Industry 4.0. In the analysis, the following databases were used: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, Google Scholar. The main purpose of the analysis was to outline the dynamics of publications in the categories: citation, author, country, type document, science field, research area. The review of sources carried out in this way allowed us to identify key research areas and confirm the research thesis adopted in the manuscript. The research thesis: Sustainable Industry 4.0 allows the integration of the Industry 4.0 concept with sustainable development goals. The article is dedicated especially to scientists looking fo... [more]

The fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0 (I4.0), makes use of wireless technologies together with other industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) technologies, cyber−physical systems (CPS), and edge computing to enable the optimization and the faster re-configuration of industrial production processes. As I4.0 deployments are ramping up, the practical integration of 5G wireless systems with existing industrial applications is being explored in both Industry and Academia, in order to find optimized strategies and to develop guidelines oriented towards ensuring the success of the industrial wireless digitalization process. This paper explores the challenges arisen from such integration between industrial systems and 5G wireless, and presents a framework applicable to achieve a structured and successful integration. The paper aims at describing the different aspects of the framework such as the application operational flow and its associated tools, developed based on analytical and ex... [more]

The study presented in the paper is an innovative research approach. It is the result of linking the concept of supply chain management and global changes, which at present are clearly visible on a global scale, with research methodology based on the systematic literature review, knowledge visualization and an expert method that makes use of knowledge, experience and opinions of experts in a given field. This research is about a Delphi study that was conducted in the context of the development of trends of supply chain and global changes, based on the findings of a systematic literature review. The qualitative study was conducted with 30 Delphi experts in the field of the supply chain. This progressive approach to the research topic allowed us to discover key global trends and modern supply chain development directions in the context of global changes, as well as their assessment and projection of the developmental potential of these trends.

In industrial maintenance activity, very sophisticated technical and human factors are needed to achieve the great process or service that the company provides, with a large dose of knowledge based on the personal experience of maintenance technicians. However, the management and application of knowledge in this activity is often relegated to a third level (or simply forgotten). The aim of this study is to identify, classify and prioritize the different barriers and facilitators that can be found in maintenance organizations of the company in reference to knowledge management in strategic maintenance activities, and what competitive advantages could be used for their appropriate introduction in the company. For this, qualitative techniques have been used through a field study and observation, as well as semi-structured interviews between company directors and maintenance managers of first-level companies in various sectors (industrial or services), to draw conclusions on the applicatio... [more]

The paper analyzes issues related to production processes in learning organizations using innovative solutions based on the Industry 4.0 paradigm. This study was realized by surveys and observation of companies operating in the energy and food sectors. These are sectors that in recent years have started to intensively implement innovative solutions and are undergoing a transformation towards an intelligent (digital) enterprise, which uses virtual reality, supported by effectively controlling the non-player characters (NPCs). The presented examples can be inspiration for chief executive officer (CEOs), chief operating officers (COOs), and chief information officers (CIOs), the people managing companies for investment in innovative solutions. The implementation of Industry 4.0 solutions, as well as new machines design according state-of-the-art achievements of mechanical engineering rules, will allow companies to implement new products, achieve better results (e.g., more products with lo... [more]

Industry 4.0 promotes manufacturing and process industry towards digitalization and intellectualization. Edge computing can provide delay-sensitive services in industrial processes to realize intelligent production. Lightweight virtualization technology is one of the key elements of edge computing, which can implement resource management, orchestration, and isolation services without considering heterogenous hardware. It has revolutionized software development and deployment. The scope of this review paper is to present an in-depth analysis of two such technologies, Container and Unikernel, for edge computing. We discuss and compare their applicability in terms of migration, security, and orchestration for edge computing and industrial applications. We describe their performance indexes, evaluation methods and related findings. We then discuss their applications in industrial processes. To promote further research, we present some open issues and challenges to serve as a road map for b... [more]

The rise of personalised and highly complex drug product profiles necessitates significant advancements in pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution. Efforts to develop more agile, responsive, and reproducible manufacturing processes are being combined with the application of digital tools for seamless communication between process units, plants, and distribution nodes. In this paper, we discuss how novel therapeutics of high-specificity and sensitive nature are reshaping well-established paradigms in the pharmaceutical industry. We present an overview of recent research directions in pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply chain design and operations. We discuss topical challenges and opportunities related to small molecules and biologics, dividing the latter into patient- and non-specific. Lastly, we present the role of process systems engineering in generating decision-making tools to assist manufacturing and distribution strategies in the pharmaceutical sector and ultimately em... [more]

Recently, the interest around the Blockchain concept has grown faster and, as a consequence, several studies about the possibility of exploiting such technology in different application domains have been conducted. Most of these studies highlighted the benefits that the use of the blockchain could bring in those contexts where integrity and authenticity of the data are important, e.g., for reasons linked to regulations about consumers’ healthcare. In such cases, it would be important to collect data, coming in real-time through sensors, and then store them in the blockchain, so that they can become immutable and tamper-proof. In this paper, the design and development of a software framework that allows Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices to interact directly with an Ethereum-based blockchain are reported. The proposed solution represents an alternative way for integrating a wide category of IoT devices without relying on a centralized intermediary and third-party services. The main applic... [more]

The steel sector is crucial for the national economy of Poland and the global economy. In response to the challenges of the global steel market and the need to increase the sector’s competitiveness, a number of actions have been taken to increase the energy efficiency of steel production. Based on the synthesis of the literature and our own research, we describe the issues related to energy efficiency and the Industry 4.0 concept. The main aim of this paper is to identify energy efficiency trends in enterprises, especially those that focus on increasing the energy efficiency of production processes, and to make recommendations for investment policy for the Polish steel sector in the era of Industry 4.0. To achieve our goals and answer the research question, we used data from 2000−2019 for the Polish steel industry. The calculations and models in this paper were made by using Gretl software. Using direct research, an econometric model was built that verified the hypothesis regarding the... [more]

This paper will present a complete discussion in recent design strategies for harvesting vibration energy using piezoelectric cantilever transducers. The interest in this primary energy source is due to its presence in non-negligible quantities in most of the engines used in the industrial process. Previous work has shown that it is possible to harvest significant amounts of energy capable of supplying a wireless sensor (WS) node. However, in most research, only one step of the energy conversion and utilization chain is studied. Starting from the definition of the different design issues for a piezoelectric micro generator (PMG), the leading optimization solutions will be reviewed in this paper. Based on the findings, the quantification of the data transmission range of wireless sensor nodes powered by a PMG is proposed to support the objectives envisioned by Industry 4.0. The vibration characteristics taken from mining locomotives that have not yet been treated previously are used to... [more]

Growing competition in the market for energy raw materials needed for power generation has led to an increasing number of measures being undertaken in the mining sector to reduce the unit costs of mining production. One of the areas that offer considerable savings in this regard is the utilisation of the technical resources owned by mines. This article is therefore focussed on analysing the utilisation effectiveness of these machines, based on the data recorded by industrial automation systems, as well as on measurements from independent surveying and chemical analysis of the excavated material’s quality. For this purpose, a methodology was developed to use the data about the operational parameters of the machines in order to analyse the effectiveness of their utilisation. It was assumed that the reliability of this assessment would depend mainly on the quality of the data used to conduct it. It was also assumed that using independent data sources for the analysis would provide objecti... [more]

The publication presents heat and electricity management in the Polish steel industry. The paper is based on actual data on heat and electricity consumption and intensity by processes in the steel industry in Poland in Industry 4.0 conditions. Two steel production processes are used in Poland: EAF Electric Arc Furnace and BOF Basic Oxygen Furnace. The analysis is an analysis of actual data is used to characterise the electricity and heat consumption by processes in the Polish steel industry. The analysis shows that the EAF technology is always more electricity intensive and the BOF technology more heat intensive. On the basis of conducted analysis, it can be concluded that pro-environmental innovations in the steel industry should first aim to reduce the electricity consumption of EAF technology and the heat consumption of BOF. An analysis of data for Poland for the period 2004−2020 shows that both cases occurred. The study shows that the heat consumption of BOF technologies has been s... [more]