The concept of smart manufacturing is based on the merging of the physical and virtual worlds, which opens up new areas of innovation to optimize the entire sector to create higher-quality products, improve productivity, increase energy efficiency, and sustain safer plant floors. Given the widespread recognition of the value of this system, it is predicted that smart manufacturing will be the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

This course is an introduction to smart manufacturing. Starting with an overview of the current digital transformations in manufacturing processes including additive manufacturing, it will then examine the evolution of cyberphysical systems, the central core of Industry 4.0, in which the infrastructure components are addressed primarily from a user perspective by describing the relevance of the IT/OT convergence to achieve data-driven manufacturing. The course will also explain how dynamically evolving operational data can be securely stored in the cloud for strategic decision making via online machine learning, for tactical decisions via human/machine collaboration on the shop floor, and for localized self-organizing automated decision making via machines and devices.

Self-learning e-Course on Smart Manufacturing is divided into two parts: basic and advanced. Those who have passed the basic course can continue the learning journey by taking the advanced one.