For Renault and its wider Alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi the concerted effort to broaden the industry 4.0 approach began in 2016. As Eric Marchiol, head of Industry 4.0 for Renault and the Alliance, confirms, that was when two Renault plants were chosen to be the initial prototyping locations for the relevant methodologies and technologies that would then be rolled out more widely though the company’s global manufacturing network. 

What defines the whole enterprise, Marchiol says, is how Renault exploited the more generic factors to shape a strategy to satisfy its own requirements…