Looking at energy through the lens of Industry 4.0: A systematic literature review of concerns and challenges

Abstract

The concept of Industry 4.0 is gaining more and more attention worldwide, where technologies related to the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data (BD), and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are combined to achieve a higher level of operational efficiency, productivity, and automatization. Although highlighting these benefits, smart factories also need to be sustainable and renewable in terms of energy. Estimations show that factory activities use about 35% of the entire global electricity supply, also producing about 20% of the total carbon emissions. In this context, this article analyzes the impact of energy on the scope of Industry 4.0. A systematic literature review was proposed exploring recent studies in smart manufacturing and energy consumption fields. The search was guided by research questions and based on PICOC (population, intervention, comparison, outcome, and context) criteria. A group of articles was selected and evaluated with the intent to answer the inquiries. As a result, more than 2,500 papers published over the past ten years have been revised. Besides, the most critical topics in the sector of energy consumption in smart factories were pointed out, through a reliable method of selection of articles. The contributions consist of identifying open questions and challenges in the area, in addition to proposing a novel taxonomy to reorganize initiatives that correlate the use of energy and the new requirements of the Industry 4.0. Moreover, this survey is a pioneer on detailing energy (consumption and harvesting) and the novel concerns in the Industry 4.0 (Radio Frequency technologies, IoT, CPS, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science).