The manufacturing industry is entering a new digital era in which ICT technologies and collaboration applications will be integrated with traditional manufacturing practices and processes to increase flexibility and sustainability in manufacturing, mass customization, increase automation, better quality and improve productivity.

A digital factory is defined as a multi-layered integration of the information related to various activities regarding manufacturing-related resources in the factory and along the product lifecycle. A central aspect of a digital factory to enable stakeholders in the product lifecycle to collaborate using software solutions. The digital factory thus expands outside the actual company boundaries and offers the opportunity for the business and its suppliers to collaborate on business processes that affect the supply chain.

This translates not only into a strong technological evolution but also into an unprecedented extension of companies’ information systems. Exploitation of data and services derived from disparate and distributed sources, development of scalable and efficient real-time systems, management of expert knowledge, advanced data analytics and optimized decision making are some of the key challenges which advanced information systems can address in an effort to reach the vision of Industry 4.0.

The goal of this workshop is to attract high-quality research papers focusing on technologies for Industry 4.0, with specific reference to digital factories and smart manufacturing.