Method to assess the adherence of internal logistics equipment to the concept of CPS for industry 4.0

Abstract

Industry 4.0 foresees benefits to companies and is supported by technologies such as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Services (IoS), among others. CPS, one of Industry 4.0's key technologies, can be applied in many areas including health, mobility, production and logistics. The partial or total incorporation of CPS technologies into internal logistics equipment can present such advantages to businesses as reductions in logistics operational costs and in production cycle times. Although this application is still under development, several manufacturers already offer to the market internal logistics equipment incorporating CPS technologies, presenting them as fully capable of operating in the Industry 4.0 environment. However, it is observed that there is no effective method of assessing whether these devices effectively integrate such technologies and at what level this integration occurs. This manuscript adopted the design science research methodology to propose a method for assessing the adherence of internal logistics equipment to the CPS concept for Industry 4.0. The method is based on a guide for collecting data with questions that identify information about the CPS technologies embedded in the internal logistics equipment, associated with a tool for processing this information. The tool is supported by a properly trained artificial neural network that measures the equipment's adherence to the CPS concept. The method has proved to be adequate because in its application it assessed fifteen equipment, from worldwide-renowned manufacturers, with an error of less than 2%.