A significant number of manufacturing organisations are showing interest in Industry 4.0 due to the support it can provide for processing and visualising manufacturing data in real-time. Industry 4.0 techniques can be used to provide an assessment of machine condition by detecting and processing internal and external data of critical machine components. Currently, a few Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) still use ageing and non-computer numerical control, manufacturing assets are operated and maintained without the use of digital technologies to monitor and report operating problems before they occur. Which in return, creates a significant barrier to the implementation of Industry 4.0 applications. In order to facilitate the implementation of Industry 4.0, on ageing, manual manufacturing assets, certain technologies associated with the third industrial revolution, including electronics and information technology, should be examined.

This paper presents the implementation process of an automation system for monitoring and control of a hydraulic press by firstly examining the required electronics and information systems for processing data and secondly by defining the needed tools and techniques associated with Industry 4.0 applications and the related implementation barriers.