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Digitisation offers enormous possibilities but also holds entrepreneurial risks such as data security aspects and misinvestments. Especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing problems by trying to keep pace with digital progress. A helpful tool would be a classification scheme specifically designed for SMEs that shows to which degree the company has already implemented digitisation technologies. Therefore we discuss why such a model is crucial, conduct a comprehensive literature survey and outline a new model.

Industry 4.0-related potentials leading to Industry 4.0 implementation mostly remain unclear. Consequently, this paper analyzes potentials that drive manufacturers to implement Industry 4.0 in five industries. Whereas mechanical and plant engineering as well as electrical engineering companies consider business-model driven, operational as well as ecological and social benefits as relevant for Industry 4.0 implementation, the chemical and steel industry widely disregard business-model driven opportunities. The automotive industry merely focuses on operational benefits provided by Industry 4.0.

Technological progress offers opportunities for introducing new business models but also opens new paths for attackers. Security-by-design integrates factory security from the start and introduces a continuous security process built upon a variety of components. This article illustrates some of these components by highlighting secure processes with specific case studies: anomaly detection within value networks and secure production planning with simulation.

The popularity of the Cloud rises, but there is still much insecurity in the IT-Security of a cloud solution. Companies want to be able to check, if the processes in the cloud are secure and trustworthy. This is possible with an external auditing system, which compares measured data with predefined rules. But there is a chance, that the measured data are manipulated on its way to the auditing system, before leaving the cloud. To prevent these threads, the measured data must be protected right after it is generated. This is possible with the forward integrity method, which builds a chain-of-trust for the measured data without need of a TPM.

Securing the IoT poses specific challenges which are still only partially solved. These include the often very limited computing, storage, and energy resources of wirelessly connected IoT devices, the high demands on the user-friendliness, as well as the high-cost pressure. Upon this background, the research project PROPHYLAXE (“Providing Physical Layer Security for the Internet of Things”), funded by the BMBF, pursued a novel approach in which the physical properties of the wireless transmission link between two devices are exploited. Based on these properties, cryptographic keys can be generated that are known only to the communicating devices and can be used to secure and authenticate a connection.

In the project CrimpProd-S the integration of decentralized, self-learning production control systems in the context of Industry 4.0 in combination with additive manufacturing is investigated. The overall target is the economic evolutionary integration of lot size 1 in existing production facilities. Therefore a procedure model and customized methods are developed to analyze the potentials regarding the existing company’s strategy, value chain as well as the business model. This integrated procedure guarantees the efficient and customer-oriented transformation.

Due to the advancement of robotics in industrial production, the strict separation of workspaces is gradually dissolving (HRC - human-robot collaboration). HRC combines the strength and efficiency of robots with the skills and cognitive abilities of humans through seamless cooperation [1]. Manufacturing companies, in which HRC scenarios are to be implemented, require a transparent and reflective selection of technology with regard to safeguarding the worker against hazards posed by the robot. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a process model that helps technology developers and systems integrators select appropriate technologies and solutions for HRC scenarios.

The IT-risks which factory infrastructures are exposed to, require a common view of IT-security and operational technology (OT) protection. In this context, the measures from office IT can only be transferred to the production area and production control to a limited extent. The requirements and protection goals for the equipment used and the networking between these components are too different. An integrated approach and continuous management of IT security helps to identify and implement targeted measures in a concerted manner.

Many companies struggle to determine their own status and strategy when it comes to digitalization and self-organizing production. The Industry 4.0 Maturity Index offers a guideline in this process and helps to ensure future competitiveness. Using the multidimensional maturity model, companies can evaluate their status-quo and develop a roadmap to accelerate their digital development. The case study of a manufacturer of electrical connectivity solutions demonstrates how to reduce costs and increase productivity with the help of the Industry 4.0 Maturity Index.

After a delayed start, in the last years OT security has substantially caught up with IT security. Many technical IT security controls are also available for machines and plants. But the maturity distribution in the field of OT is more complex and fragmented, as shown in the present article. Certain fundamental issues and contradictions of IT security become particularly obvious here and might need to be solved within OT security.