Data Mining Applications in Industry 4.0

Dear Colleagues,

In the current economic and political environment, being able to gain a competitive edge is a priority for the industrial sector. Companies of all sizes are extremely interested in the possibilities and opportunities that Industry 4.0 offers. New tools available at industry’s disposal such as data mining, Internet of Things (IoT) and digital twins open up the possibility of production being more intelligently structured in the future, with more information at its disposal. The Internet of Things will find its way into all areas of demand in an intelligent and networked world. However, this means that enormous amounts of data will accumulate in all the production areas of the manufacturing industry. The challenge lies in identifying suitable technologies and then being able to smartly employ them to optimize production processes.

Large amounts of data can be utilized efficiently for production control. The predictive management and evaluation of production data and their analysis requires the implementation of suitable tools. The traceability allows saving valuable time and effort when analysing the production process. Big data and machine learning tools can also be used to optimize machine settings. Implementing them in the production process brings many advantages.

There is still much to explore regarding this new set of tools in the proactive and predictive use of the existing production data. This Special Issue intends to deepen the knowledge of data mining applications, one of the main aspects of Industry 4.0. The potential benefits that data mining applications can bring are diverse; therefore, contributions from different areas of research are welcome. Researchers are encouraged to submit contributions that touch on several aspects of data mining applications in the Industry 4.0 context and its relationship with several contiguous topics.

Dr. Radu Godina
Dr. Pedro Espadinha da Cruz
Guest Editors

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