Abstract:

For over two decades, the economic environment has been transforming at an increasingly fast pace and becoming Smart Environment. The changes that occur in the industry (the fourth industrial revolution) are associated with the integration of the real with the virtual world through the use of Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things (IoT). The physical world is indistinguishably and continually saturated with detectors, sensors, recorders, displays, and other devices that constantly identify the behaviour (and identity) of objects and people in physical and virtual space. The enormous amounts of data which is generated, collected and processed, if translated into adequate information, is able to support decisions and stimulate actions aimed at further improving the quality of life of consumers. Therefore, not only the production processes are evolving, but also the products and the ways of their use. Manufactured products participate in the digitization process, which often changes the nature of the product purchased and used by the customer