The challenges that companies currently face have been developing over many decades. The intense competitive pressure that businesses are experiencing is mainly the consequence of large-scale changes in commercial technology and new global challenges. Companies compete for supremacy in manufacturing typically by establishing worldwide supply chains, speedier transfers of materials, more intricate payment systems, and a more efficient production process. The Internet has had a significant impact on the way companies organize production and set up operational structures.

Manufacturing is generally switching to Industry 4.0, which is the name given to the latest version of automation. This next phase of automation has emerged from four developments: (1) an increased capacity for processing data, accompanied by more powerful connectivity (specifically, low-power wide-area networks); (2) the emergence of ...