These days, the term Industrie 4.0 is on everyone’s lips. According to the most recent developments, making use of the term only seems natural – but it has to be distinguished what really belongs to Industrie 4.0 and what does not.
We encounter ourselves in a world where there is such thing as an administration shell; a digital representation of the real asset in the digital world. Not only is communication between these assets possible – moreover, every asset is represented by a smart sibling and is assigned properties – which form the basis of everything. Being put in the semiotic triangle, Industry 4.0 thereby links the concept we have of an object, the physical object as the asset, and the IT-model as the smart sibling. The physical and the digital world blend into each other not only with smart factories, but also with smart products. With regard to the “reference architectural model Industry 4.0”, this presentation aims at covering the heart of Industry 4.0.