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The widespread use of industrial automation and embedded intelligence in the mid-20th century have led us to the world as we know today. Sitting on the cusp of the 4th industrial revolution driven by convergence of technologies and societal trends, a new catalyst has emerged where “things” of all shapes and functions are central to what is referred to as the “Internet of Things” or IoT. The connectedness of IoT and the distributed nature of these intelligent devices, each with autonomous or semiautonomous behavior, allow significantly higher production and better use of human resources by eliminating massive information gaps about real-time factory condition; coupled with innovative techniques such as additive manufacturing, a truly optimized advanced manufacturing floor and the vision of a lean, agile, and integrated Factory of the Future can soon be realized.
Rong et al. (2016) studied this question.