An Engineering Process model for managing a digitalised life-cycle of products in the Industry 4.0

The Internet of Things (IoT), and more specifically the industrial IoT, is revolutionising industry. This technology has catalyzed the fourth industrial revolution and inspired movements such as Industry 4.0, the Industrial Internet Consortium and Society 5.0. Morphing an industrial process or assembly line to aggregate Internet-connected devices and systems does not complete the picture. The concept penetrates all aspects of the engineering process (EP) which encompasses the full life-cycle of the product/solution. Phases of the EP traditionally tended to be sequential but, with the IoT, can now evolve and influence other phases throughout the product/solution life-cycle. The EU-funded Arrowhead Tools project aims to promote a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to allow tools within each phase of the engineering process to interact with each other. This paper, applies the proposed EP model to a real value chain composed of multiple stakeholders adopting different EPs for the life-cycle management of a Smart Boiler System.