Industry has only recently been rediscovered as having a fundamental role in Europe and the world. Industry 4.0 is a revolution that is going to change not only industry itself, but economic systems as well. The “Smart Factory” involves all phases of industrial manufacturing, from design to production and logistics, all the way to post-sales. The smart factories of the future will be part of a social network consisting of machinery, goods, workers and consumers that, as they interact, will establish a new technology-production paradigm. The enormous mass of data generated by this interaction will lead to greater production efficiency but also to increased flexibility. Software will become crucial in all this, and investing in that sector is what give companies their competitive edge.
One point on which everyone can agree is that this is not merely a gradual evolution, but a full-blown revolution, and it is worthwhile to consider what its main features are: beginning with the “Internet of Things”, which is also the “Internet of Services and People”, and promises to transform processes and products into integrated systems of objects and “smart” spaces capable of conversing amongst themselves and with the outside world. Some of the principal challenges that such a comprehensive revolution poses to economic and productive systems include setting common standards, forging new business models and designing measures for bolstering architectures until they are regulated. The enabling factors that will make this change possible range from digital infrastructures, such as broadband, to human skills and financial investments. The implications are enormous not only for manufacturing, but for the working world and the economy in general.
A crucial question concerns what other countries are doing, Germany first and foremost, which has made the 4.0 its industrial standard. It is necessary to assess how Italy is placed as compared with those countries that have already taken up this challenge. Is there an “Italian way” to Industry 4.0? Various government initiatives have been launched, but there is still an industrial planning and policy gap to be filled. Industry 4.0 calls for large-scale investments and long-term vision, and that means raising political awareness where there has often been a lack of attention to the needs of the manufacturing sector and technological innovation. This revolution provides a gauge for measuring Italy’s ability to preserve and strengthen its global industrial ranking.