Smart Sustainable Manufacturing: a new Laboratory-Factory concept to test Industry 4.0 principles

Manufacturing enterprises are presently faced with an array of industry 4.0 (I4.0) challenges. “Digital requirements” need to be really assessed by an accurate analysis and deep understanding of the operational and technological criticalities in the manufacturing operations. This may thus allow to effectively design and implement a digital twin that supports the transformation. The goal of the article is to present and analyze the criteria adopted in a design for the transformation of a real setting of an Italian company into a I4.0 testing learning-laboratory. The idea behind is that this laboratory-factory may play a key role in developing new solutions for the automation and the implementation of the I4.0 paradigm and it is a viable solution for the learning factory.