Industry 4.0: contributions of holonic manufacturing control architectures and future challenges

The flexibility claimed by the next generation production systems induces a deep modification of the behaviour and the core itself of the control systems. Over-connectivity and data management abilities targeted by Industry 4.0 paradigm enable the emergence of more flexible and reactive control systems, based on the cooperation of autonomous and connected entities in the decision-making process. From most relevant articles extracted from existing literature, a list of 10 key enablers for Industry 4.0 is first presented. During the last 20 years, the holonic paradigm has become a major paradigm of Intelligent Manufacturing Systems. After the presentation of the holonic paradigm and holon properties, this article highlights how historical and current holonic control architectures can partly fulfil Industry 4.0 key enablers. The remaining unfulfilled key enablers are then the subject of an extensive discussion on the remaining research perspectives on holonic architectures needed to achieve a complete support of Industry 4.0.