The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Industry 4.0 and Made in China 2025

Abstract

The thesis will focus on the development of the concept of Industry 4.0, especially in Germany, the first-mover country, and China, the most intriguing and peculiar example of how the definition of Industry 4.0 can be revised and modified. The subject of this work is extremely important and critical, particularly due to the extreme growth that China and China manufacturing industry have had in the last years. Understand what are the plans (mainly Made in China 2025, also called MIC 2025), what the perspectives (chinese investments, acquisitions of companies all over the world, efforts in the strengthen of laws and regulations..) and focus on the road and the path of adoption of these national plans can give us a better comprehension of the fast expansion of this oversized country called China. The parallelism and the differences with Germany economy, and German “Industry 4.0 program” development plan, is the core of the thesis and will give us the chance to better understand what is the actual situation in both the countries, and if and why we must(or not) take care of this global phenomena. In the first chapter a general view over historical facts (the previous industrial revolutions), the discussion over the main pillars, the globally most approved definitions of Industry 4.0, the enablers, the preconditions, the benefits and the challenges, and especially over the drivers of this transformation are given. A quick analysis on the German “Industry 4.0 Program” and a deeper examination of the theorization and the application of the “same” concept in China, following the national plan called Made in China 2025, will take place in the second and in the third part of the research. Analyze the differences, the common features, the different background and the different path of adoption will be the main focus of this research. In conclusion the work will be completed with few concrete examples of the theories studied in this thesis, and a little room will also be given to the direct experience that the author has had in China during his academic stage for an Italian company.