USING MATURITY MODEL AND DISCRETE-EVENT SIMULATION FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 IMPLEMENTATION

Production environments worldwide transform themselves in order to take the best advantage of the Industry 4.0 guidelines. Automation, data exchange, cyber-physical systems, the IoT, cloud and cognitive computing represent a step in the unknown to these companies, associated with high risks and also the need to restructure their culture. If the execution route is not clearly defined and understandable to all levels of employees, the renovation is too long. The maturity models can be used for the assessment of current Industry 4.0 maturity level, but the practical use of scores and assessed level often requires the involvement of consulting firms. Companies can avoid the involvement of consulting companies with the use of complementary tools. In this paper, we propose a new methodology that combines the Industry 4.0 maturity model and discrete-event simulation tools in the case of steel production company with the possibility of generalization. The combination of these tools in the first step helps the company to assess its current level of maturity for Industry 4.0, and in the second step helps to consider about strengths and weaknesses of possible scenarios for transition to a higher level of maturity.