Smart manufacturing is often synonymous with Industry 4.0. The goal is to transition from traditional factories into intelligent ones (smart factories) characterized by adaptability, resource efficiency, and ergonomics, as well as the integration of customers and business partners in and value-adding processes.
Smart factories of the future will rely on combinations of new technologies including 5G, the Internet of Things, augmented reality, 3D printing, and others. This course focuses on blockchain or distributed ledger technology that allows for a trustless source of truth binding all internal and external stakeholders in smart factories. According to the UK Government Office of Science, the technology is also defined as “a consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data geographically spread across multiple sites, countries, or institutions with no central administrator or centralized data storage.”
The course will cover the following modules:
Module 1: Overview of Smart Manufacturing
Module 2: Current Examples of Smart Manufacturing and Use Cases
Module 3: Advanced Concepts of Blockchains
Module 4: How Blockchains Work with Other Technologies
Module 5: Potential and Possibilities of Blockchains in Smart Manufacturing
Module 6: Implications and Ethical Implementation of Blockchain Technology; and
Graded interim quizzes and final exam.
Course Objectives
The objective of this course is to familiarize participants with advanced concepts of smart manufacturing using blockchain solutions. Starting with an overview of current digital transformations in manufacturing processes including blockchain-related technologies and a recap of the topics covered in the basic blockchain course, participants will be able to examine the evolution of blockchain infrastructure components from an end-user perspective and understand the relevance of blockchain technologies in data-driven manufacturing. In particular, this course is intended to help participants: