Ambitious attempts are underway to make use of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) in manufacturing. Nations like the U.S and Germany, which have taken the lead in CPS development, call this “Advanced Manufacturing” and “Industry 4.0”, respectively. CPS is the convergence of the physical world (including human users) and the virtual world (cyberspace) using advanced sensors and networks. CPS is the next-generation of engineered systems and intelligent decision support systems for people.

In CPS systems, the joint behavior of the “cyber” and “physical” elements of the system are critical ― computing, control, sensing, and networking are deeply integrated into every component, and the actions of components and systems must be carefully orchestrated. For example, data (physical world) from embedded sensors in the machinery and equipment are analyzed in virtual modeling and/or simulations (cyberspace). This analytical data can be used for real-time monitoring, fault diagnosis and predictive maintenance for manufacturing equipment. Development of this virtual modeling requires advanced analytical methods to properly process big data collected from manufacturing equipment.

It is said that manufacturing is the most difficult industry to standardize due to a wide variety of information being circulated in production sites. If deployment of CPS is introduced to manufacturing, “standardization” is inevitable in modeling and collection of data for manufacturing, production control, maintenance, etc. The wave of IT innovation started from the U.S., transforming the commerce and service industries, and is now flooding into the manufacturing domain. Development of advanced manufacturing based on CPS will be increasingly competitive among nations and companies, and has a potential to lead to new industries emerging.