Smart management energy systems in industry 4.0

In its origins, the term Industry 4.0 was associated with the computerization of manufacturing and with the diffusion of new network technologies in order to improve the communication paradigm. Today, the definition and implementation of Industry 4.0 include a number of trends, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), digital manufacturing and cyber-physical systems. Among these key elements, energy aware systems in factory automation are emerging as a challenging trend of Industry 4.0. Technological advancements in the ability to collect, transfer and analyze data by using smart energy aware systems are at the aim of this trend. Smart solutions in order to limit the power consumption of manufacturing line aim at developing and integrating new technologies and methods into smart factories in order to rapidly adapt and respond to changes in the markets’ demands for high-quality products. In fact, smart energy aware systems in factories lie at the core of both Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing. A variety of recent advanced technologies and approaches play important roles, by exploiting innovative technologies and solutions and/or optimization methods. They allow higher levels of adaptively and flexibility in energy aware systems. This Special Issue of Energies on the subject area of “Smart Management Energy Systems in Industry 4.0” has solicited high quality and unpublished work on recent advances in energy aware smart systems in Industry 4.0. Several researchers have replied to our call, with the following statistics: Submissions (17); Publications (5); Rejections (12); The following paragraph summarizes the main topics of the papers published in the Special Issue [1,2,3,4,5]. Authors’ geographical distribution of published papers is: 2 from Taiwan, 2 from China, and 1 from Spain.