In order to solve the problems of labor shortage and mass production of customized products, major industrial countries have promoted various policies and industrial development plans, such as Germany's "Industry 4.0," the United States' "Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP)," Japan's "Industrial Revitalization Program," South Korea's "Manufacturing Innovation 3.0 Policy," mainland China's "Made in China 2025," and our own country’s "Intelligent Machinery". In general, the term "Industry 4.0" in Germany is often used to describe changes in the current production model. "Industry 4.0" actually refers to the fourth industrial revolution. In the first Industrial Revolution, after Watt improved the steam engine, the production mode evolved into power mechanization. The Second Industrial revolution featured the assembly line for large-scale manufacturing and assembly of industrial production. The third Industrial Revolution consists of the application of information technology for program-controlled production automation and the application of robots in industrial production. Finally, the fourth Industrial Revolution is defined as the application of emerging “information and communication" technology. Through the Internet of Things (IoT), all machines and equipment are integrated in series, and Data is collected by sensors and transmitted to the cloud. Big Data is then applied for analysis, and artificial intelligence (AI) is used. AI can achieve more intelligent automated production and supply chain integration capability through the intelligent control of production equipment according to different management needs and process control.

Under the concept of "Industry 4.0," the "intelligent machinery" industry of Taiwan is based on the solid industrial energy of "precision machinery" and "information communication," combined with the technologies of "intelligent machinery/robotics," "Cyber-Physical System (CPS)," "Internet of Things (IoT)," "Big Data," and "precision management." In the direction of "intelligent machinery industrialization" and "industrial intelligent mechanization," Taiwan precision machinery will be upgraded to intelligent machinery, which would establish Taiwan as a key position in the global production and manufacturing supply chain.

In such an industrial context, the new generation of engineers must have knowledge across mechanical, electrical, information, and management fields, as well as the abilities of teamwork, communication, problem solving, etc. Therefore, throughout the interdisciplinary course of "Intelligent Machinery" in our school’s bachelor’s program, students can develop in the following different fields based on the mechanical field:

• Intelligent electromechanical control field: further study of electromechanical control technology, which will be applied to the development and application of various intelligent robots and intelligent living equipment.
• Intelligent energy saving management: further study of energy technology, big data analysis, and other technologies, which will be applied to developing the energy saving technology of the industrial equipment and production systems urgently needed in Taiwan.
• Internet of Things and Big Data: further study of the Internet of Things and big data-related information engineering development technology, which can be clearly integrated with and applied to intelligent machinery equipment and production systems.
• Intelligent production system management: further study of courses related to management science to better understand the process of the cyber-physical production system, which will be put into the field of intelligent production system development and planning.

In order to enhance the learning effect through practice, the university has also cooperated with Festo, an international manufacturer of automation systems, to set up a Smart Factory in line with Industry 4.0 specifications on campus and jointly developed practical courses related to intelligent machinery. In the future, we will further integrate the three schools of engineering, information technology, and management in order to jointly construct a complete teaching and research platform regarding intelligent production systems in line with the spirit of Industry 4.0 with German businesses Festo and SAP.

In Taoyuan, where the university is located, relevant industries cover a variety of livelihood industries, traditional industries, the automobile industry, the aerospace industry, the semiconductor electronic and photoelectric industry, etc. The output value ranks the highest among Taiwan. The whole industry can be considered the epitome of Taiwan's industry. Therefore, students can also participate in enterprise-related internship and research programs through industry-university cooperation between the university and major companies; doing so will cultivate practical problem-solving skills, so that students can seamlessly connect between enterprises and university.