Development of a Model for describing, evaluating, and designing Communication Concepts in Factories in the Context of Industry 4.0

authored by

Yeong-Bae Park, Lennart Hingst, Peter Nyhuis, Michael Kelber, Jörg Rainer Noennig

Abstract

Far-reaching changes in the technical and organisational structure have influenced the communication
between the elements of a factory. In particular, Industry 4.0 as a contemporary trend in production
technology and many related areas of science places new requirements for communication. Thus,
expectations comprise a wide variety of effects and potentials of Industry 4.0 on communication in factory
systems. Exemplarily, efficiency and productivity increases are most frequently named as effects of industry
4.0. They seem advantageous by industrial enterprises, whereby the raising of these potentials is also a
necessary competitive factor. However, such influences can trigger other effects with interdependent impacts
on the components of factory systems. These effects can have both positive and negative impacts in factory
systems. Still a comprehensive and generally valid description of these aspects is not yet available. Similarly,
there is no understanding of the cause-effect relationships between the requirements for communication
between the system components of a factory arising from Industry 4.0. The lack of specific understanding
of Industry 4.0 caused effects and the cause-effect relationships between the requirements for
communication between the factory system components lead to the inability to design effective
communication concepts in factory systems. Therefore, existing communication systems remain exposed to
undesired effects and leave desired effects underutilized. In order to close this research gap, a holistic model
for the description, evaluation and the design of effective communication concepts in factories in the context
of Industry 4.0 is in development within the frame of "Komm 4.0", a research project of the Institute for
Production Systems and Logistics at Leibniz University Hannover and the WISSENSARCHITEKTUR
Laboratory of Knowledge Architecture at TU Dresden. The pursuit of this research project is to describe and
evaluate existing communication concepts, as well as design more effective concepts and to adapt previous
recommendations in terms of communication concept design where necessary.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Production Systems and Logistics

External Organisation(s)

Technische Universität Dresden

Type

Paper

Pages

418 - 425

No. of pages

8

Publication date

2020

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Management of Technology and Innovation, Strategy and Management

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.15488/9684 (Access: Open)