The purpose of this article is to collect and structure the various characteristics, technologies and enabling factors available in the current body of knowledge that are associated with smart manufacturing. Eventually, it is expected that this selection of characteristics, technologies and enabling factors will help compare and distinguish other initiatives such as Industry 4.0, cyber-physical production systems, smart factory, intelligent manufacturing and advanced manufacturing, which are frequently used synonymously with smart manufacturing. The result of this article is a comprehensive list of such characteristics, technologies and enabling factors that are regularly associated with smart manufacturing. This article also considers principles of “semantic similarity” to establish the basis for a future smart manufacturing ontology, since it was found that many of the listed items show varying overlaps; therefore, certain characteristics and technologies are merged and/or clustered. This results in a set of five defining characteristics, 11 technologies and three enabling factors that are considered relevant for the smart manufacturing scope. This article then evaluates the derived structure by matching the characteristics and technology clusters of smart manufacturing with the design principles of Industry 4.0 and cyber-physical systems. The authors aim to provide a solid basis to start a broad and interdisciplinary discussion within the research and industrial community about the defining characteristics, technologies and enabling factors of smart manufacturing.

A vision for the Operator 4.0 is presented in this paper in the context of human cyber-physical systems and adaptive automation towards human-automation symbiosis work systems for a socially sustainable manufacturing workforce. Discussions include base concepts and enabling technologies for the development of human-automation symbiosis work systems in Industry 4.0.

Strategic networks such as collaborative networked organisations (CNOs) and virtual customer communities (VCCs) show a high potential as drivers of value co-creation and co-innovation. Both look at the network structures as a source of jointly value creation and open innovation through access to new skills, knowledge, markets and technologies by sharing risk and integrating complementary competencies. This collaborative endeavour is able to enhance the adaptability and flexibility of CNOs and VCCs value creating systems in order to react in response to external drivers such as collaborative (business) opportunities. Strategic business networks are active entities continuously adapting to their environment in order to enhance their capabilities to respond to short-term business opportunities, and therefore allow their business ecosystems to follow the rhythm of industry dynamics, and customers’ changing needs and preferences. Value co-creation is the new trend in open-business models trying to integrate organisations’ competencies and involve customers’ individual preferences into network and community formations for the co-creation of the next level of value for products, services and experiences to be launched into the market. This article presents a literature review on value co-creation and co-innovation concepts and styles, and proposes a reference framework for creating interface networks, also known as ‘experience-centric networks’, as enablers for linking networked organisations and customer communities in order to support the establishment of sustainable user-driven and collaborative innovation networks.

▪ Abstract Gene amplification is a common feature of the genome of prokaryotic organisms. In this review, we analyze different instances of gene amplification in a variety of prokaryotes, including their mechanisms of generation and biological role. Growing evidence supports the concept that gene amplification be considered not as a mutation but rather as a dynamic genomic state related to the adaptation of bacterial populations to changing environmental conditions or biological interactions. In this context, the potentially amplifiable DNA regions impose a defined dynamic structure on the genome. If such structure has indeed been selected during evolution, it is a particularly challenging hypothesis.