What is it about?

Designs an integrated IEPC–IIoT–Digital Twin–AI architecture that transcends traditional PLC/SCADA limitations, enabling bidirectional data flows, advanced anomaly detection and predictive maintenance to minimize downtime and enhance smart factory resilience.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Its importance lies in offering a tangible blueprint for transforming conventional automation into truly intelligent, self‑optimizing factories. By combining IEPCs, IIoT, digital twins and AI, the framework enables continuous, bidirectional data exchange between physical assets and their virtual counterparts, which is essential for real‑time monitoring, anomaly detection and closed‑loop control. This shift allows maintenance to evolve from reactive or rigid interval‑based approaches to predictive, data‑driven strategies that reduce unplanned downtime, extend equipment lifetime and stabilize production. At the same time, its modular and scalable design makes progressive upgrades of existing PLC/SCADA‑based environments feasible, while explicitly addressing interoperability, cybersecurity and data‑standardization challenges that often hinder large‑scale deployment in smart factories.

Perspectives

Its perspectives include extending the IEPC–IIoT–Digital Twin–AI framework from laboratory prototypes to large‑scale industrial deployments, with richer multimodal sensing and more sophisticated AI models for anomaly detection and remaining‑useful‑life estimation. The architecture can be generalized to other smart factory scenarios, such as flexible assembly lines, collaborative robotics and automated quality inspection, supporting higher levels of autonomy and adaptability. Future work may also explore integration with emerging Industry 5.0 paradigms, standardized data spaces and advanced cybersecurity mechanisms, enabling resilient, human‑centric and sustainable manufacturing ecosystems.

PhD Cornelia Ionela Badoi
Universitatea Politehnica din Bucuresti

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Architecting the Future Factory: Industrial PLC-IoT, Digital Twins and Predictive AI based Maintenance, November 2025, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE),
DOI: 10.1109/wpmc67460.2025.11351140.
You can read the full text:

Read

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page