Industry 4.0 Technologies: A Cross-sector Industry-Based Analysis

The ongoing fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, was first introduced in 2011 at the Hannover Fair in Germany. Nowadays, such paradigm still represents a hot topic in the field of industrial engineering, with the aim to boot a radical transformation of the companies through the implementation of a set of new concepts and technologies, as Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR) and Big Data Analytics. Globally, companies all over the world expect to experience relevant benefits by implementing such emerging principles in terms of technical, economic, environmental and ergonomic performances. After providing a structured definition of the Industry 4.0 and a classification and description of its main enabling technologies, the aim of this paper is to perform a critical assessment about the Industry 4.0 principles implementation focusing on the three main transport sectors: automotive, aeronautical and railway, highlighting the most widespread technologies and the developed applications. The present paper provides valuable knowledge to support researchers and business practitioners in understanding the current implementation level of Industry 4.0 principles in the aforementioned sectors, supporting them in identifying the most compelling goals to be achieved in the near future.