IndexEuropean investments in Industry 4.0Industry 4.0 investments in different parts of the value chainKey factor for success in Industry 4.0Improving resource efficiencyEmployment and future changes in work skillsIn In this paragraph we will analyze Industry 4.0 from a different point of view, we will leave room for numbers and graphs through a study conducted by the consultancy firm PWC. In order to provide a complete view on the level of investments in European countries and the benefits that companies expect from the adoption of Industry 4.0. This analysis is intended to be only a starting point for an in-depth discussion on the challenges and future prospects for the adoption of Industry 4.0 and specific cyber-physical systems in production. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned'? Get an original essayThe study as we said was conducted by PWC in 2014 with the help of other companies specializing in market research. It is based on a cluster of two hundred companies with the specific aim of identifying the opportunities and challenges that companies think they will face by adopting this type of technology. Regarding the interview method, the interviews were carried out via phone call and face to face, but what is more important is the fact that the objective was to provide a complete overview, in terms of sales and revenue size. The sample, in fact, is made up of large companies with high levels of turnover and turnover and at the same time companies considered medium or small in size in order to give a complete vision of the German market and repeat it on a European scale. This is therefore not the only principle through which the survey was conducted, in fact the companies belong to different industrial sectors, as shown in the graph below. Finally, the people interviewed belong to different functions within each company to understand if within each company and function there are different points of view regarding Industry 4.0 and what it needs to become a success and what are the benefits that can be obtained in the near future. . Another important thing to keep in check is the seniority of the people interviewed and again the sample is a balanced mix of CEO, managers and operations. European investments in Industry 4.0The companies interviewed expect that up to 2020 and beyond they will invest a huge amount of money in Industry 4.0. Specifically, approximately 3.3% of revenues each year or equal to half of the investments planned in new capital considered essential for each industrial sector. Translating these percentages into numbers, we see that we are talking about 140 billion euros in the entire European Union. Therefore, 25% of the companies interviewed do not consider it a priority to channel significant investments into Industry 4.0. On the contrary, a third of respondents see it as an important investment challenge because this revolution offers the opportunity to increase efficiency and ensure competitiveness. The companies we are talking about consider the fourth industrial revolution one of the main opportunities they can face. In fact, they have a higher than average annual investment level, exactly higher than 4% of annual revenues. In fact, 65% of the companies interviewed do not exceed 3% because they do not believe enough in the fourth industrial revolution. The objectives of Industry 4.0 are mainly two, namely to improve the efficiency not only of the production process and to improve productivity in order to increase the volume of business for all stakeholders involved along the supply chain. As we can see from the graphunderlying, participants know that if they want to benefit from Industry 4.0, they must engage in all functions of their company. Furthermore, they must convince their suppliers at the beginning and end of the value chain to follow the revolution, because a manufacturer alone cannot exploit all the benefits that Industry 4.0 can bring. Therefore, looking at the graph we can see that companies are investing more money throughout the production process by implementing Cyber ​​Physical System technology in production to be flexible and more efficient, while for everything related to the supply chain they are investing in the Internet of Things to track all parts and products. Industry 4.0 investments in different parts of the value chain The study takes into consideration different industrial sectors, those considered of primary importance for the future development of the European Union. For each industrial sector, the level of investments was calculated as a percentage of the revenues achieved each year. From a first glance, it is easy to understand that manufacturing and information technology companies are the ones investing the most in Industry 4.0. But how much? Information and communications companies invest approximately 3.9%, while manufacturing companies spend an average of 3.5% per year. These are incredible numbers, but specifically each industrial sector differentiates the type of investment. In fact, IT companies are looking for intelligent products and services equipped with computational power from the manufacturing to logistics sectors. Manufacturing companies are focused on the physical production of products and are interested in developing automation equipment to a higher level of independence and flexibility. This is possible with a specific focus on real-time data acquisition and analysis for predictive maintenance along the entire supply chain. However, the Process Industry sector can be considered as the tail end of investments planned in Industry 4.0, in fact it is the last in relation to the sector. Therefore, businesses across the European Union have understood that through investments in Industry 4.0 they can elevate their business through new solutions and improve customer satisfaction. Depending on the different needs of each company, we can still summarize Industry 4.0 as a recipe for lasting success and companies will understand this by seeing the level of investments and efforts they are putting into making it possible. Key Success Factor in Industry 4.0 As I noted, the main focus of my thesis in the second chapter will be on the CPPS of cyber physical production systems and, therefore, the main skill that a company has developed is to acquire, manage and communicate information and data internally and externally. For this reason, in this section we will focus on the awareness that companies have regarding data. Data will be the future for any company of the future, Industry 4.0 will help manage it. In fact, through the application of the Internet of Things, sensors and RFID, companies will acquire an enormous amount of data from the production process and the environment around them, such as suppliers, customers and any stakeholder. Therefore, companies often do not use them and do not exploit them in a structured and efficient way. Moving on to the study, it is possible to note that for half of the companies interviewed, being able to use and exploit data is considered a priority. The sectors most involved in this capacity are certainly electronics and IT companies. This is due to the enormous amount of data these industries produce due to the nature of the products and services they produce. However, the idea that the ability to archive and analyze is widely sharedand using data will be a key success factor for the future, in fact 90% of the companies interviewed believe that it is very important even in those sectors where this is certainly not the main priority. Until now we have focused on the importance of data but have not considered how the company uses it. Through process analysis analysts are able to gather information about how the process is progressing, after which the data will be processed and solutions will be made to adapt the process. Let's consider the case of an automotive supplier which will be studied in depth in the third chapter. The company is able to completely monitor the production process using sensors and RFID. The main purpose of data collection and processing is to improve the quality and reliability of the final product. In this way, defective products or parts will be detected at an early stage, reducing the case of delivery of defective products, thus reducing complaints and costs. Furthermore, the use of data increases transparency and puts companies in a position to make the right decision at the right time. time undoubtedly along the entire value chain, from suppliers to customers. This is the basis for improving resource efficiency in terms of money and materials, also you can increase productivity and ultimately customer satisfaction by shipping the right product to the right customer without defects. Industry 4.0 and above all IOT and Big Data are able to change the business model of companies, in fact many process companies today are able to solve important optimization problems through these technologies. IOT provides a lot of information about market demand, plant carrying capacity and the level of material resources. This way the factory is able to determine which product needs to be produced and in what quantity based on the priority of customer orders. The final goal is to create a system capable of simulating reality in a few seconds to provide the best solution to every problem, this is the task of the Cyber ​​Physical System and data processing, while the IOT through sensors and especially RFID provide real-time data in order to monitor the entire value creation process. However, from the graph below we can have a clear vision of the state in which companies with data analysis capabilities find themselves. Many companies are able to track things via RFID, but many others do not have the ability to analyze and use the information in real time, unfortunately this is the key to success. Furthermore, some do not have access at an intra-company level. Improving resource efficiency Since the birth of the industry the goal has been to produce even greater quantities of products or services with fewer and fewer resources in terms of energy and materials. Industry 4.0 goes in this direction by guaranteeing process efficiency. Through 2020, the companies interviewed expect incredible quantitative and qualitative benefits from the planned investment. The study asked the companies interviewed what their expectations are regarding the future: they expect an improvement in resource efficiency of approximately 18% at the end of 2020 in each industrial sector analyzed which can translate into 3.6% overall 'year. Therefore, the companies were precise during the interview, stating that digitalization will be the main pillar of the revolution and that they expect savings from dynamic and flexible production processes, reduction of defective products and therefore rationalization of the entire value chain. In practical terms, the technologies enable process transparency to improve the use of machines and plants, for example by optimizing dimensionsof the lots. Greater connectivity with all components of the organization allows work areas to be structured and rationalized, producing productivity gains. The ultimate goal is an intelligent use of data analysis for integrated control to reduce the waste rate in production processes. Finally, we can conclude that on average from 2015 to 2020 there will be an increase in efficiency of 17.9% and a reduction in costs of almost 14%. During the investigation, the benefits are divided into cost reduction and efficiency increase. For the first, companies are positively optimistic, announcing that the Smart Factories will bring savings compared to the normal effort of an amount equal to 2.6%. Therefore, as I explained, cost savings do not just come from the effort of one company alone, but rather come from cooperation and the exchange of data and information between companies. In fact, an annual cost saving of 2.6% is possible only if each partner in the value chain does their part in reducing costs within their company and collaborates with interested parties. Therefore, we can conclude that quantitative benefits are seen as the cornerstone to initiate a glorious future characterized by sustainable competitiveness. From the graph above we can see that companies have huge expectations about the qualitative benefits that Industry 4.0 can offer. The most important aspect is better planning and control of the production process and it is all about the exchanges of data and materials along the supply chain. Furthermore, they place emphasis on flexibility and increased customer satisfaction, which are considered of primary importance. Planning and control can be seen from two different points of view. The former focuses on the integration of all partners along the entire value chain, with vertical integration as the starting point for greater flexibility and reduced lead to market. Vertical and horizontal optimization leads to better product quality and customer satisfaction, because customers receive products faster, with better computing power and root traceability. However, many companies expect a medium or low improvement in quality. This can be considered wrong because, for example, companies in the automotive and electronics industries are moving quality control to the beginning of the production process at their suppliers. They take all the data upstream to take control of the entire value chain while minimizing errors or cases of reduced quality. In this way, companies obtain traceability of everything through data archiving, while through data processing the level of the production process increases, increasing productivity and consequently profitability. Employment and future changes in work skills Common thought and practical experience have shown that automation and more generally the computerization of the production process are accompanied by a loss in the employment rate. So Industry 4.0 is a revolution in this too. Because only a small part of the companies interviewed, that 9% that is preparing to introduce Industry 4.0, are thinking of downsizing their workforce. The companies in this small percentage are mostly large enterprises, the reason for this result is easily identifiable. Large companies with their financial power are able to replace easy and repetitive jobs with automated robots, which are acquiring more and more intelligence. The same cannot be said for small businesses that rely on human capital. However, the investigation provides us with an important and impressive result. That is, more than half of the companies interviewed expect a.