Technological Developments in Industry 4.0 for Business Applications

One of the most important issues businesses face is how to adapt to changing operational and administrative processes. Globalization and high competition highlight the importance of technological innovation and its contribution to the organizational performance of businesses. Technological Developments in Industry 4.0 for Business Applications is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of developing new services related to industrial processes in order to improve organizational well-being. It also looks at the technological, organizational, and social aspects of Industry 4.0. Highlighting a range of topics including enterprise integration, logistic models, and supply chain, this book is ideally designed for computer engineers, managers, business and IT professionals, business researchers, and post-graduate students seeking current research on the evolution and development of business applications in the modern industry era.

Luís Ferreira , is currently a lecturer in the Hight School of Technology at the Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave, Portugal. He holds a Dipl. in the field of Mathematics and Computer Science, an M.Sci. in the field of Distributed Systems, Computer Architecture, Communication and Networks. Integration of Information Systems and Architectures and Cloud services are his main research areas. Professionally he developed and coordinated several projects on enterprises reconfiguration and integration as CTO of Sidereus Company. He coordinated the IPCA’s eU project, Portuguese wireless platform for Academic Campus, and was pivot for IPCA’s VOIP project. Academically, was member of INESC Porto research team, actually is a research member of IPCA 2Ai – Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, heads the Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering and teaches subjects of Computer Sciences, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Architectures, to undergraduate and pos-graduate studies.

Nuno Lopes received his Bachelor degree (5 years degree) in Systems and Informatics Engineering, in 2002, from University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. During this course, he made an internship at Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Later on he received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, from University of Minho, Portugal, in 2009. His Ph.D. focused on the building of large-scale indexing systems through the use of structured peer-to-peer networks. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave, Barcelos, Portugal, teaching Network Communications and Operating Systems courses, among others. His research interests include distributed systems, decentralized algorithms, peer-to-peer networks, and large-scale information retrieval.

Joaquim G. Pereira Silva is currently an Adjunct Professor in the School of Technology at the Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Portugal. He holds a Dipl. Eng. in the field of Systems and Informatics Engineering and an MSc degree in the field of Industrial Engineering. Currently, He is conducting research studies for completing a PhD degree in the field of Computer Science. He teaches subjects related with Information Systems, Software Engineering and Decision Support Systems to undergraduate and post-graduate studies. He worked for about 10 years as an information systems manager in industry before initiating the academic career. His research work covers the areas of information systems, business analytics, and business process management.

Goran D. Putnik , Dr. Habil., DrSc., Full Professor, Department of Production and Systems Engineering, University of Minho, Portugal. His scientific and engineering interests are distributed, agile and virtual production systems and enterprises design and management theory, ICT in manufacturing, concurrent and collaborative engineering, formal theory of production systems and enterprises, and complexity management in organizations. His publishing record comprises more than 300 publications in international and national journals and conferences, including 13 books, of which the “Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations” is distinguished. He serves as a member of Editorial Board for several International Journals. He is an associate member of the International Academy for Production Engineering CIRP.

Maria Manuela Cruz-Cunha is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Technology at the Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave, Portugal. She holds a Dipl. Eng. (5 years) in the field of systems and informatics engineering, an M.Sci. in the field of Computer Integrated Manufacturing and a Dr.Sci in of Production Systems Engineering. She teaches subjects related with Information Systems, Information Technologies and Organizational Models to undergraduate and post-graduate studies. She has authored and edited 25 books and her work appears in more than 150 papers published in journals, book chapters and conference proceedings. She is founder and conference chair of the "CENTERIS – Conference on ENTERprise Information Systems", "ViNOrg – Conference on Virtual and Networked Organizations Emergent Technologies and Tools" and "SeGAH – Serious Games and Applications for Health". She is the editor-in-chief of the "International Journal of Web Portals" and of "Information and Communication Technologies for the Advanced Enterprise: an international journal".