University courses adapt to the theme of Industry 4.0

The concept of the industry of the future, also known as "Industrie 4.0", was introduced in Germany in 2011 (Hannover Messe Fair). At the time, discussions on this theme focused on actions that could be taken to make German industry more competitive in the face of growing competition from the Asian continent. Under these conditions, this concept federated then, many countries and notably France within the framework of the "Industry of the Future" project initiated by the President of the Republic in 2015. The industry of the future is then associated as the 4th industrial revolution. The aim of this revolution is to enable industry to benefit from the considerable progress and solutions available in the field of digital technologies.

Until the early 2000s, the industrial paradigm involving OT (Operational Technology) nevertheless separated IT (Information Technology). Industrial processes were then functionally and physically structured and hierarchized according to a pyramid model (CIM: Computer Integrated Manufacturing) or a "Purdue" model. This structuring now converges around different bricks or functions that can be implemented according to specific needs.

Examples include new manufacturing processes, intelligent machines, new materials, process coupling, control and command, monitoring and traceability, additive manufacturing...

These predominantly digital solutions integrate :

• digital engineering (modeling, simulation, virtual or augmented reality);

• the digital chain (Computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) ;

• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) ;

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) ;

• Electronic document management (EDM)...);

• Internet of Things (interconnection, intelligent objects) ;

• communication (protocol, securing exchanges) ;

• Big Data;

• Data mining ;

• functions hosted in the cloud.

Like any revolution, Industry 4.0 requires companies to adapt efficiently in a context of accelerating technological innovation. This adaptation is not the only one: it also impacts the various university training courses and certain research projects.

The corpus of this article presents a panel of achievements and partnerships that today enable the validation of demonstrators for Industry 4.0. The various projects have been validated in a university or engineering school context.