By January 28, 2026 ByDavid Humphrey
Publication Date: 2026-01-28 12:00:00
Much has been written about Audi’s Edge Cloud for Production initiative (EC4P), but it will be the “industry historians” of the future that put its impact into perspective. ARC hopes they write something like this:
“When IT/OT convergence was still in its infancy, Audi recognized the enormous potential of implementing modern IT practices in the factory, working with key partners to virtualize the shop floor. The result paid off: lower CapEx due to fewer hardware purchases, substantially reduced OpEx thanks to AI-driven software asset monitoring, and shorter reconfiguration costs due to the inherent flexibility of a software-defined shopfloor.”
ARC recently published a white paper on the origins, progress and future outlook of EC4P.
Key findings include:
• EC4P is integral to Audi’s 360factory vision, accelerating the shift to software-driven production.
• By consolidating hardware into scalable, local servers within a unified edge-cloud framework using a high-speed, resilient enterprise network, EC4P streamlines shop floor operations. This enhances the efficiency of routine OT tasks, such as equipment maintenance and software updates.
• The server solution levels out spikes in demand across virtualized clients, speeding up application deployment and recovery in case of failure, and ensuring a more efficient use of resources.
• Future production solutions will be delivered as software, optimized for seamless…
