Industry 4.0—The Sustainable and Smart Ways to Control the Management of Manufacturing Sector

Dear Colleagues,

With rapid development in the fields of information technology and hardware, the world is witnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with a new buzzword “Industry 4.0”, associated with wireless connectivity and sensors to monitor and visualize entire production processes and to make automated decisions. In short, Industry 4.0 is the digital transformation of manufacturing/production and related industries and value creation processes with the use of the Internet of Things (IoT), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cyber-physical systems, smart manufacture, smart factories, cloud computing, cognitive computing, and artificial intelligence (AI), etc. However, Industry 4.0 is not a concept which can be realized overnight; it is a strategy which needs to be addressed in depth when implementing aspects of Industry 4.0. The aim of this Special Issue is to provide an overview on the future developments and directions in Industry 4.0, and the future scope of factories. Our endeavour encourages all professionals, academics, industrialists, and other experts in the field to act as consultants, providing their views and opinions on the complete digitization of the manufacturing sector. This Special Issue will raise awareness about Industry 4.0 among the Indian manufacturing industry, leading towards a sustainable and profitable future. Raising awareness about Industry 4.0 among the manufacturing industries is vital, to enable preparation regarding the future scope of factories through the implementation of cyber-physical systems. Original research and review articles with the objectives of addressing the problems in the implementation of new technology, as well as social and environmental issues, are encouraged. With the established ideas and methods of economic growth and development, Industry 4.0 can shape a better society with the knowledge and respect of rights and laws; installing social and environmental values and norms will facilitate sustainable global development.

The following potential topics are welcome from academics, although this list is not exhaustive:

• Smart manufacture;
• Sustainable inventory control and management;
• Sustainable production planning and control;
• Green supply chains and management;
• Green production systems;
• Cloud computing and cognitive computing;
• Artificial intelligence (AI);
• Challenges and opportunities of the industrial internet;
• The role and importance of Industry 4.0 in socioeconomic development;
• Scenario of the present fourth generation industrial system;
• Sustainable development of the manufacturing industry;
• Empowering women in the era of Industry 4.0;
• Human resource development in the era of Industry 4.0;
• Significance of Industry 4.0 in industrial development.

Dr. Shib Sankar Sana
Dr. Sweety Sadhukhan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.