Reliability Assessment in the Context of Industry 4.0: Data as a Game Changer

Abstract

Reliability is the measure of the likelihood that a product, system or service will perform its intended function adequately for a specified period of time. Low reliability of a manufacturing system, besides the costly repairs and replacements, also implies reduced production, and consequently, significantly reduced profits. Therefore, it is very important to have a way to assess reliability, as a key performance metric for manufacturing systems, and cyber-physical systems in general. The newly developed information and communication technologies that are increasingly becoming part of the current and future manufacturing systems, both allow and invite for more sophisticated approaches to assessing reliability of manufacturing systems as opposed to the traditional expert knowledge-based approaches. In this paper, we describe the significance of evaluating reliability for the progress and acceptance of the Industry 4.0 technologies, as well as the new directions and possibilities for enhanced reliability analysis that these new technologies can provide. Finally, we provide an overview of the implications of these novel ways of analyzing reliability in the context of Industry 4.0.