The industry 4.0 is a new industrial model that characterizes the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This advanced manufacturing model is represented by intelligent, virtual, and digital performance in large-scale industries and emerges as a disruption to the three industrial revolutions that occurred before it. The new industrial model itself includes a factory-wide integrated structure and potential technologies in various areas of industry activity, and these technologies are intrinsic to industry 4.0 design principles, which are also responsible for ensuring the innovative performance of this new industry. With this explanatory context, the objective of this paper is to present what is really industry 4.0, its origin, as well as its main characteristics. In this way, knowing what the Fourth Industrial Revolution is, the readers will be able to better understand the content presented in the next chapters about the diverse potentials of the new industry.
Part of the book: Industry 4.0