The objective of this book is to support readers facing the urgency, challenges, analysis, and methodologies to reconfiguration. It presents a comprehensive framework for reconfiguring manufacturing enterprises and provides a set of valuable conceptual frameworks and methodologies for analyzing, evaluating, and assessing reconfiguration indices. This book offers practical guidance for implementing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). It presents open-ended problems pertaining to the concepts covered in the book and provides a new approach for reconfiguring industrial systems. Not only is this book for industrialists and academics, it will also appeal to undergraduate and graduate students studying industrial, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering. Scholars and practitioners in operations management will also find this book of interest.

World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolu­tion, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wear­able sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manu­facturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individu­als. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frame­works that advance progress.

To plan, build, monitor, maintain, and dispose of products and assets properly, maintenance and safety requirements must be implemented and followed. A lack of maintenance and safety protocols leads to accidents and environmental disasters as well as unexpected downtime that costs businesses money and time. With the arrival of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and evolving technological tools, it is imperative that safety and maintenance practices be reexamined. Applications and Challenges of Maintenance and Safety Engineering in Industry 4.0 is a collection of innovative research that addresses safety and design for maintenance and reducing the factors that influence and degrade human performance and that provides technological advancements and emergent technologies that reduce the dependence on operator capabilities. Highlighting a wide range of topics including management analytics, internet of things (IoT), and maintenance, this book is ideally designed for engineers, software designers, technology developers, managers, safety officials, researchers, academicians, and students.

This book explores sustainability within manufacturing enterprises and examines the concepts and principles of this field. It also reviews the quantitative and qualitative tools available for analytic assessment. It presents a new framework for sustainable manufacturing requirements and discusses the implementation of sustainable manufacturing in terms of practices, indicators, and sustainability level assessments. The book also details the important conditions necessary for the conversion of existing traditional plants to ones with more sustainable processes. Chapters explore topics including the assessment of economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, sustainable manufacturing practices, and sustainability optimization. Serving as a reference for engineers, managers, and practitioners involved in manufacturing, this book will also be a valuable resource to students and researchers of industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, systems engineering, and operations management.