Towards a smart factory in the pharmaceutical industry

The Industry 4.0 model is on the way to full maturity in production organisations, after more than a decade of application within them. It can be said that it was a key element for the digitisation of the economy and public services around the world, so today we can discuss the application of this concept in various areas, including the pharmaceutical industry. This paper aims to provide the latest information on the state of development of the Industry 4.0 model in the pharmaceutical industry (Pharma 4.0), which represents the path to a smart factory (SF) in this area. The paper consists of several parts, namely: (i) an analysis of the framework of the Pharma 4.0 model, (ii) its detailed presentation, and (iii) some observations on the future development of this model in application, all to develop a smart pharmaceutical factory (SPF).