Next-generation enterprise architectures: Common vernacular and evolution towards service-orientation

Abstract

Industry 4.0 is opening new avenues for reconfigurable and information-centric integration of enterprise functions and control systems. Most of the current approaches (e.g., ISA-95) view enterprise architectures in a pre-defined, monolithic, and hierarchical sense. To enable more innovative, personalized, and efficient manufacturing processes, however, such ‘tree-like’ architectures must turn into decentralized and cyber-physical networks of ‘things’ and ‘services’. This article investigates the emerging Industry 4.0 paradigms and architectures (e.g., IIRA, RAMI4.0), their commonalities, limitations, and evolution towards modular and service-oriented architectures (eg., ISO/IEC 18384:2016). The goal is to identify and analyze the existing technical and technological gaps, and provide recommendations for developing new reference models/architectures for next-generation enterprises.