Proposal for new automation architecture solutions for Industry 4.0

Background: New automation technologies that incorporate an Industry 4.0 perspective for the integration of production environments are increasingly being considered by industrial organizations. The concept behind these solutions is to break the current paradigm of automation layers, which is based on their hierarchical level rather than their functions. In this sense, a new architecture is needed to address the needs that arise from the perspective of Industry 4.0. The purpose of this article is to propose a new architecture based on integrated functions to meet the current requirements of production systems. Methods: An analysis of case studies of automation solutions deployed in real-world production systems is performed and the results can be used for further discussion of this area of research. Results and conclusions: The case studies applied to 5 large multinational companies showed that the current architectures in the plants in operation already provide strong signs of technological evolution. These architectures have technologies that can support the construction of a new Industry 4.0-oriented architecture. However, more than cuttingedge technologies, the actual architectures need to be better defined in terms of functions within a solution.