It will be more reliant than ever on technology, robotics and artificial intelligence, but it comes with some problems.

Two of the ones that BMW faced included the additional cost of setting it up and the time lost.

In doing so, it can be very expensive for manufacturers to switch from the older machines they have to the newer ones of industry.

Four experts expect some older jobs will be lost.

Those gained will require a different, more technological skill set.

And whenever you have a more connected environment, you have concerns about security in case it's hacked.

But once everything is set up, mhm Rains Berg is one of Germany's best preserved medieval cities.

It's home to one of the country's oldest bridges, oldest restaurants and most modern factories.

We've got an award from the World Economic Forum as the factory of the Future.

This historic towns high tech hub is one of today's most progressive plants, and it's at the forefront of industry.

Four point oh, over 100 years ago, an American industrialist forever changed how the world works.

Literally.

Henry Ford cut the time needed to build cars in half with the industry's first moving assembly line in 1913.

And the way we make things has been evolving ever since.

The next generation of manufacturing won't just take place on the factory floor.

It will also happen on computers and in the cloud.

The Smart Factory is a smart way of using new technologies, new ideas to get the innovations on the next level.

Smart factories are often fully connected facilities where employees harness an endless supply of data to streamline production.

These plants could add at least $1.5 trillion to the global economy in the next three years.

I don't think that I'm smart enough to give you the entire overview of every technology be using here in a factory with more than 3000 connected machines.

It's no wonder Frank has a hard time remembering each innovation.

A custom made Internet of Things platform links these tools with materials which received laser printed labels allowing info to be analyzed and tracked every step of the way.

Now we can combine Data's what was humidity, what was the temperature.

What was the flow of the cast?

The line?

Is there any connection, which is explaining why we had a problem?

If you understand this, this interfaces, then we can prevent that happening in the future again.

Assembly line teams were smart watches and gloves that help customize cars quicker, and autonomous vehicles streamline logistics by delivering parts.

These technologies allowed BMW to cut the time needed to deploy new applications by 80% and reduce quality issues by 5%.

It also landed the plant on the World Economic Forum's list of the most technologically advanced factories.

In January, 2019 of more than 1000 contenders worldwide, only seven were picked.

Despite the buzz around the potential of new tech, Frank says that there's one resource that always outshines.

The smart factory is driven by smart people.

Changing conventional process is always a challenge.

The only way to do that is if you take the people with you.