Industry 4.0: Architecture and equipment revolution

�� 2020 The Authors. Published by Tech Science Press. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher���s website: https://www.techscience.com/cmc/v66n2/40642The development of science and technology has led to the era of Industry 4.0. The core concept is the combination of "material and informationization." In the supply chain and manufacturing process, the "material" of the physical entity world is realized by data, identity, intelligence, and information. Industry 4.0 is a disruptive transformation and upgrade of intelligent industrialization based on the Internet-of-Things and Big Data in traditional industrialization. The goal is ���maximizing production efficiency, minimizing production costs, and maximizing the individual needs of human beings for products and services.��� Achieving this goal will surely bring about a major leap in the history of the industry, which will lead to the "Fourth Industrial Revolution.��� This paper presents a detailed discussion of industrial big data, strategic roles, architectures, characteristics, and four types of innovative business models that can generate profits for enterprises. The key revolutionary aspect of Industry 4.0 is explained, which is the equipment revolution. Six important attributes of equipment are explained under the Industry 4.0 perspective.Authors would like to thank deanship of scientific research (DSR) at umm Al-Qura University for their partial funding the work (Grant# 17-COM-1-01-0007)