The primary purpose of this article is to present a maturity model dealing with environmental manufacturing processes in a company. According to some authors, Industry 4.0 is based on characteristics that have already been the focus of “lean and green” concepts. The goal of the article was to move from resource consumption, pollutant emissions, and more extensive manufacturing towards environmentally responsible manufacturing (ERM). Using environmental materials and methods reduces energy consumption, which generates cost savings and higher profits. Here, value stream mapping (VSM) was applied to identify core processes with environmental potential. This paper provides an understanding of the role of environmental manufacturing in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The first part of this paper firstly theoretically presents first three industrial revolutions, main inventions and their impact on society and industry development. Then, Industry 4.0 is presented with focus on use of collaborative robots and their role is highlighted. Main part of the article focuses on the Laboratory of Industry 4.0 at University of West Bohemia, its key components, use in education and future plans.

The main topic of this paper is concentrated on collaborative robots. Specifically preparation of their implementation in terms of safety requirements specification in the Czech Republic. Firstly, the paper is concentrated on a description of collaborative robots, their advantages and disadvantag...

The MM Science Journal, published since 2008, is a world respected scientific journal. The journal, published in English, is double peer reviewed and competitive in distributing knowledge among domestic and international academics and professionals. Full texts are available on-line on the journal...

The paper focuses on the use of augmented reality (AR) by industrial engineers, especially for determining the necessary competencies required for its use. Industrial engineers are not inherently programmers. Nevertheless, augmented reality is a modern trend in their field, especially in relation to the concept of Industry 4.0 and industry in general, where it has a higher potential than virtual reality. In the first part of this paper, we placed augmented reality and the competencies required for its use in the context of industrial engineering. Subsequently, we described our own methods of implementing an augmented reality industrial metadata visualization system, namely Help Lightning Fieldbit and Unity 3D, using the Vuforia extension. We chose the metadata used in the methods with regard to their environmental potential. In this part of the paper, we also described the chosen and applied testing methodology using a questionnaire survey. Subsequently, we described the results from the questionnaire surveys of both these approaches of implementing augmented reality methods. Finally, we evaluated the results and compared them with each other and with results from other authors. As the results show, the most important competencies for creating the described AR environments are analytical competencies. We draw conclusions from the collected data regarding the necessary competencies for the creation of AR scenes using these methods and their deployment in industry, including an outline for further research.