Industry 4.0 is the industrial model facilitated by the integration of technologies such as IoT and cloud computing as enablers to increase efficiency and sustainability. Real-time data-sharing is a core element in the shift towards decentralised control, allowing for adapting behaviours in production management (Shrouf et al. 2014). Core elements of Industry 4.0 are vertical integrations between the different business levels, horizontal integrations in the supply chain, and end-to-end integration to monitor the product in all its phases (Telukdarie and Sishi, 2018).
For example, if it is now possible to automate a fast-food restaurant with robots (Reiley&Powell (2022), the industry 4.0 model offers many possibilities.
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A camera observing the customers still waiting in queue can guess orders in advance based on statistical data or remembering the habits of regulars. Therefore the kitchen could prepare part of the food in advance to serve the meals faster. That is an example of vertical integration.
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The integration with a cloud-based food delivery platform can optimize the orders in the kitchen using the estimated time-of-arrival of the riders. That is an example of horizontal integrations.
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It is possible to track the state of supplies in real-time. A marketing system aware of unsold food could enable discounts late in the evening to avoid the waste of fresh ingredients. That is an examples of end-to-end tracking.
Industrial espionage and sabotage are the two major concerns in cybersecurity scenarios: an attacker could steal information or disrupt the services. It is imaginable that an attacker could manipulate a production line in any step, including influencing the decision-making by polluting information or introducing changes in the final products (Prinsloo et al, 2019). Belikovetsky et al (2017) made the example of a potential attack to corrupt the production of 3d printed propellers that would break under stress (Belikovetsky, 2017).
Describing the challenges of the adoption of continuous delivery methodologies in software development, Laukkanen et al. (2017) point out that humans are a risk element. Factors like lack of discipline, competencies, and motivation, are potential obstacles in the shift to more advanced and automated practices.
However, while there is a general consensus around the increased cyber security risks in Industry 4.0, Liu et al. (2020) focus on the opportunities unlocked by the technology. New devices spanning from wearables to robots, will offer better security and reduce accidents on the jobs.
References
- Belikovetsky, S., Yampolskiy, M., Toh, J., Gatlin, J., & Elovici, Y. (2017). dr0wned–{Cyber-Physical} Attack with Additive Manufacturing. In 11th USENIX Workshop on Offensive Technologies (WOOT 17). Available from https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/woot17/woot17-paper-belikovetsky.pdf. [Accessed on 25 September 2022]
- Laukkanen, E., Itkonen, J. & Lassenius C. (2017) ‘Problems, causes and solutions when adopting continuous delivery—A systematic literature review.’ Information and Software Technology 82: 55-79.
- Liu, Z., Xie, K., Li, L., & Chen, Y. (2020). A paradigm of safety management in industry 4.0. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 37(4), 632-645.
- Prinsloo, J., Sinha, S., & von Solms, B. (2019). A review of industry 4.0 manufacturing process security risks. Applied Sciences, 9(23), 5105. Available from https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/23/5105/pdf [Accessed on 25 September 2022]
- Reiley L., Powell L. (2022) “The robots are here. And they are making you fries.” The Washington Post. Available from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/20/robots-automating-restaurant-industry/ [Accessed on 25 September 2022]
- Shrouf F., Ordieres J. and Miragliotta G. (2014) “Smart Factories in Industry 4.0: A Review of the Concept and of Energy Management Approached in Production Based on the Internet of Things Paradigm”, pp. 697-701, 2014. Available from https://sci-hub.se/10.1109/IEEM.2014.7058728 [Accessed on 25 September 2022]
- Telukdarie, A., & Sishi, M. N. (2018, December). Enterprise definition for Industry 4.0. In 2018 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM) (pp. 849-853). IEEE. Available from https://sci-hub.se/10.1109/IEEM.2018.8607642 [Accessed on 25 September 2022]