Systematically integrating Industry 4.0 requirements into factory planning phases

The topic of Smart Manufacturing Factories (“Factory 4.0”) is characterized by the integration of technologies like cyber-physical systems (CPS), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Data Analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies enable intelligent networking of machines, products and people, leading to optimizations and improved decision-making. In this context, factory planning becomes a decisive factor in exploiting these potentials. Taking the specific requirements of Factory 4.0 into account as early as the planning phase is therefore essential in order to create a sustainable and competitive production environment with digital infrastructure. In this paper, we present an approach to derive the technical, organizational, and structural infrastructure requirements and assign them to the factory planning phases. The approach is shown using Industry 4.0 use-cases resulting in a set of derived requirements usable for factory planning projects.