Company Special: SAP: Products will help make themselves in future factories

A factory of the future display by German software provider SAP was a highlight of this month's China International Industry Fair in Shanghai.

All objects in the display were able to communicate with one another - from machine-to-machine and machine-to-product - an approach that can achieve mass production as well as personalized products simultaneously. The technology can also predict errors in the production line to improve production efficiency.

"Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, is characterized by the fusion of automation and digitalization," said Clas Neumann, senior vice-president, head of Global SAP Labs Network and Fast Growth Market Strategy Group. "Software is the glue that keeps the world of Industry 4.0 together. We are able to read what the devices say and communicate with robots what to do differently in the next stage and so on,"