Industry 4.0: a systematic review of legacy manufacturing system digital retrofitting

Abstract

Industry 4.0 technologies and digitalised processes are essential for implementing smart manufacturing within vertically and horizontally integrated production environments. These technologies offer new ways to generate revenue from data-driven services and enable predictive maintenance based on real-time data analytics. They also provide autonomous manufacturing scheduling and resource allocation facilitated by cloud computing technologies and the industrial Internet of Things (IoT). Although the fourth industrial revolution has been underway for more than a decade, the manufacturing sector is still grappling with the process of upgrading manufacturing systems and processes to Industry 4.0-conforming technologies and standards. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular, cannot always afford to replace their legacy systems with state-of-the-art machines but must look for financially viable alternatives. One such alternative is retrofitting, whereby old manufacturing systems are upgraded with sensors and IoT components to integrate them into a digital workflows across an enterprise. Unfortunately, to date, the scope and systematic process of legacy system retrofitting, and integration are not well understood and currently represent a large gap in the literature. In this article, the authors present an in-depth systematic review of case studies and available literature on legacy system retrofitting. A total of 32 papers met the selection criteria and were particularly relevant to the topic. Three digital retrofitting approaches are identified and compared. The results include insights common technologies used in retrofitting, hardware and software components typically required, and suitable communication protocols for establishing interoperability across the enterprise. These form an initial basis for a theoretical decision-making framework and associated retrofitting guide tool to be developed.

A Conceptualization of Industrial Internet of Things towards Manufacturing Safety Performance

“…Augmented or virtual reality offers employees the freedom and abilities to simulate real life scenarios in a low-risk environment. For example, with augmented reality, technicians can identify parts and deliver step-by-step instructions by fusing live data with intelligent feedback via a headset, tablet, or mobile device, saving firms the cost of repair and downtime as well as ensuring no risk to the employees [3].…”

Development of a Novel Methodology to Retrofit Legacy Systems in the Context of Industry 4.0

“…In [11], a study on the modernization and updating of existing manufacturing systems, known as legacy systems, to meet some of the requirements of Industry 4.0 was proposed. Industry 4.0 is characterized by connected, automated, and intelligent systems, and the goal is to show how these characteristics can be added and integrated into older systems through retrofitting.…”