Trade media has been awash with articles about Industry 4.0 for several years — but where does the concept originate from? Back in 2011, Dr Henning Kagermann, Dr Wolfgang Wahlster and Dr Wolf-Dieter Lukas introduced Industry 4.0 to visitors at Hannover Messe. At the trade show, they described their vision to invest in smart technologies, to build on Germany’s success in the automotive and mechanical engineering sectors.
Today, discussions about Industry 4.0 have gone far beyond Germany’s political landscape. Despite the global hype about this trend, Industry 4.0 has remained relatively theoretical.
