Shipyards, Shipbreaking industry and the contribution of the Industry 4.0

Over the past years, a trend to monitor and control the procedures in various industries, has been attempted. It is known that the ship recycling procedure produces waste that turn to be highly dangerous for the environment, while the threat of atmospheric emissions is not yet solved. Today the majority of the ship building and ship breaking industrial activities take place in countries of eastern and south Asia, under the worst conditions in terms of working safety and environmental damage, even though there is an established legal framework. On the other hand, the initiative of Industry 4.0 offers a solution that can handle the environmental hazardous conditions and improve the recycling procedures. Environmental degradation, climate change, air pollution and other major environmental problems are the outcome of the rapid industrialization of the past centuries. The rise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution with the probable benefits of the new technologies can constitute the “payoff” to the environmental damage of the past. Main technology pillars of the Industry 4.0 in such as Big Data, Analytics, Machine Vision, Collaboration Platforms, Simulation and Additive Manufacturing Augmented Reality, can scientifically diminish the environmental footprint of the ship breaking and ship building industry.