Machine learning spotlight: Industry 4.0 and predictive maintenance

Industry 4.0 is characterized by applying cloud and cognitive computing to current automated and computerized industrial systems resulting in the ability to create smart factories that monitor physical processes, identify issues or optimizations, and perform iterative refinement or proactive maintenance and updates. A recent study was released by Emory University and Presenso called The Future of IIoT Predictive Maintenance. The study is focused on predictive maintenance current state, implementation, resulting impact, and future needs identified within smart factories. Over 100 operations and maintenance professionals across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific participated. The results showed that while there was good satisfaction with existing predictive maintenance environments, the modeling and machine learning aspects are lagging behind where spreadsheet based statistical modeling has not been replaced by more advanced capabilities.