Smart factories in Industry 4.0: A review of the concept and of energy management approached in production based on the Internet of Things paradigm

The real and the virtual worlds are growing speedily and closely to form the Internet of Things (IoT). In fact, IoT has stimulated the factories and the governments to launch an evolutionary journey toward the fourth industrial revolution called Industry 4.0. Industrial production of the new era will be highly flexible in production volume and customization, extensive integration between customers, companies, and suppliers, and above all sustainable. Reviewing and analyzing the current initiatives and related studies of the smart factories/Industry 4.0, this paper presents a reference architecture for IoT-based smart factories, defines the main characteristics of such factories with a focus on the sustainability perspectives. And then it proposes an approach for energy management in smart factories based on the IoT paradigm: a guideline and expected benefits are discussed and presented.