New systems were developed to reduce downtime (automatic loading and unloading, rapid tool and head changeovers, robots for multiple applications, etc.). INDUSTRY 4.0 31 Consequently, progress has been made thanks to new materials, less coolants, recycling and high-performance components resul- ting, among other things, in the need to use less shopfloor space. The Industry 4.0 reference model applied to machine tools The challenge the machine tool business is currently facing con- sists in how to approach the so-called ‘Industry 4.0’ revolution and the many opportunities it offers with regard to the fact that more products and processes are being digitised. From a technological perspective, there are many possibilities, although the question that the potential buyers and users of these machines are asking is how can they benefit from them? There is no easy answer, and this will obviously depend on each individual case. In order to properly structure an analysis on ‘what is it I can to make my company more competitive and what features does a machine have to offer me’, it is better to have a reference model as shown in the next figure. This reference model seeks to guide machine tool buyers and users to evaluate the most interesting technological features of each individual case. Procurement criteria are not homogenous and may vary as a function of the business strategy established for each particular case and also with regard the production model addressed by the strategy. As a starting point, attention must be paid to sectorial drivers, trends or factors pertaining to the environment where the com- pany is already facing competition. • Product customisation or the need to customise products for the end user. • Shorter life cycles linked to the launching requirements of new products characterised by increasingly shorter lead times. • The life cycle cost of production resources: Company managers are increasingly addressing investments and operating costs as a whole. Nowadays, there is en ever-growing demand for concepts such as ‘life cycle cost’. • Availability of operators and skill-building: Operators that are becoming increasingly accustomed to using ITs but usually know less about manufacturing processes. • Suppliers of production resources, who are increasingly offering more services related to predictive maintenance for machines are willing, in certain cases, to study new forms of payment or funding for their machines. • In terms of attributes, the advanced production model to be adopted in each case will feature, generally speaking, the following: • Flexibility understood as the capacity to ultimately produce in a customised manner coupled with reconfigurability, understood as the capacity to adapt quickly and economically to changes in products. • Multi-functionality or the capacity to perform a maximum number of operations on a part on the same machine, including ancillary operations such as work piece loading/unloading and on-site measuring. • Intelligence incorporated to a machine to respond autonomously by supervising and ensuring that a process is producing defect- free parts, to monitor the condition of a machine and predict if any of its components can be expected to fail or cause a quality problem, etc.