Industry 4.0 in Retrospect and in Context

The concept of an industrial revolution is not a simple one and it seems that typically the start and the end of an industrial revolution is assigned only retrospectively. The concept of industry 4.0 and the Fourth Industrial Revolution that it represents are an anomaly in this respect and it seems that Industry 4.0 is a holistic roadmap for the future rather than a backward looking statement about what has taken place. The original German vision that is Industry 4.0 is indeed holistic and encompasses also issues beyond technology, this is an important observation, as there is a certain aura of technological determinism that drives the talk about the future in the industry. This preface goes through the history of industrial revolutions, the background of the concept of Industry 4.0, and finally positions this book.