Design and Manufacturing: An Industry 4.0 Perspective

Industrial investments include the use of advanced technologies, which refine, accelerate, and improve industry and raise the profitability of the stakeholders. As part of Industry 4.0, a range of advancements offer considerable opportunities for transforming traditional approaches to product design and manufacturing towards a computer-based innovative way of work, including 3D printing technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual and augmented reality, computer-based simulations, topology optimization, finite element analysis, real-time optimization, artificial intelligence, human-centric design, circular economy principles, and human-machine interactions. Not only have design and manufacturing changed, but so has the focus of researchers, engineers, and academia towards incorporating high-end applications to all stages of a product's life cycle, each of them shaping the future of the industry by creating both new opportunities within specific sectors and new challenging demands.