When the word “industry” is used in conversation, the picture painted in most minds is a gritty shop floor and blue-collar individuals on an assembly line.
While this visceral image is still true to some degree, when you add the term “4.0” after the word “industry,” newfound interest perks in the minds of both white-collar and digital technology professionals. Simultaneously, fear looms in the hearts of those blue-collar workers accustomed to that initial visual of what industry means. They think instantly of job loss, robots, and artificial intelligence (A.I.) deleting them from the equation.
This fear may be common; however, it is unwarranted. Despite the now-proven Hard Trend that A.I., advanced automation and robotics, 3D printing, and other industrial Internet of Things (IoT) advancements often replace mundane tasks in manufacturing, Industry 4.0 transformations are here to help us and allow us to work alongside machines in new and highly productive ways.
Industry 1.0 to 4.0
Manufacturing in every industry has evolved in four major stages since the 1800s, and these four distinct industrial revolutions that took place are as follows.
The first industrial revolution took place between the late 1700s and early 1800s. Manufacturing evolved from manual labor performed by people and work animals to optimized labor performed by the use of water and steam-powered engines, with human beings alongside them performing new, more efficient tasks.
In the early part of the 20th century, work efficiency continued to rise as the world entered a second industrial revolution. This brought along the introduction of steel and use of electricity in factories. Developments in electricity production and distribution enabled manufacturers to mobilize factory machinery and freed up the ability to increase productivity by capitalizing on manpower in mass production concepts, such as the assembly line.
A third industrial revolution began in the late 1950s, which brought with it more automation technology. This, and increasingly computers and robotics, became integrated into factories, yet again increasing efficiency and repositioning where the human workforce would put forth its energy. In recent years, near the end of this period, manufacturers began experiencing a shift from legacy technology to an increase in attention to digital technology and automation software and services.
That brings us to our fourth and most current industrial revolution: Industry 4.0. essentially brings increased interconnectivity and networked intelligence through the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, A.I. and introduces new types of cyber-physical systems. Industry 4.0 is far more comprehensive, interlinked, and holistic than revolutions before, continuing the connection of the physical with digital, and allowing for improved company communication and collaboration, boosting productivity and greatly improving processes.
The definition of Industry 4.0 is, in general terms, the rise of digital industrial technology. To expand upon that, let’s take a look at the nine building blocks that make up Industry 4.0 and simultaneously transform industrial production.
Big Data and Analytics
An issue that is common in industry is constructive and quick decision making among managers and employees. In Industry 4.0, collecting and comprehending ever-increasing amounts of data from many different sources including networked sensors, production equipment, and customer-management systems will become more streamlined and useful in support of real-time decision making.
Autonomous Robots
Robots replacing people is always the evident fear when discussing the future of technology in manufacturing jobs. However, the ability for robots to interact with one another while accomplishing rhetorical tasks not only increases productivity for the company, it too will open new job opportunities for employees who are willing to learn new things that once worked those repetitive tasks. Physical work aside, these future autonomous robots will cost less while having greater range of capabilities, freeing up money to afford to pay employees repositioned in new roles supporting the use and impact of all the machines.
Advanced Simulation
In conjunction with analytics, advanced simulations will be used more extensively in plant operations to leverage real-time data and mirror the physical world in a virtual model. This will include machines, products, and humans, allowing operators to test and optimize the machine settings for a product in the virtual world before the physical one. This will accelerate a predict-and-prevent operational strategy that will greatly combat the issues involved in downtime on machines and reduce error.
Horizontal and Vertical System Integration
Universal data-integration networks are a major impact stemming from Industry 4.0 that will increase connectivity among departments, suppliers, and partners. In manufacturing, too often there is a lack of communication or, worse, miscommunication that winds up being devastating for a project that crosses departmental boundaries. This is an improvement meant to positively impact human employees, and it leverages digital technology and interconnectedness of this industrial revolution to do so.
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
Decentralizing analytics and decision making while enabling real-time feedback is key in today’s age. IIoT is more than connected sensors and machines all communicating with each other; it also means that more devices will have embedded computing enabling what is called Edge Computing, computing at the edge of a network were networked sensors are instantly getting the new data and automated decisions can happen much faster than back at the “mothership.”
Agile and Anticipatory Cybersecurity
It’s absolutely no mystery that being so interconnected with sensors, devices, and software opens up a huge risk for hacking and security issues. Secure, reliable means of communication is quite important to cybersecurity in Industry 4.0, but more importantly, access and identity management in that process as well. Similar to other industries handling highly secure consumer information, manufacturing companies must consider pre-solving problems in cybersecurity the more digital industrial functions become. Reacting quickly after a problem is a key to agile systems, and with A.I.-based behavior analytics and other new tools we can also implement anticipatory systems by adding a predict-and-prevent layer.
Advanced Hybrid Cloud and Virtualization
With Industry 4.0, data and the need for data storage is growing at an exponential rate. Increasingly, on-premise hard drives and servers used by IT departments at companies will not suffice, which brings us to Cloud Services and Virtualization. Advanced cloud services go way beyond data storage, to add elements of high-speed data analytics coupled with A.I. and machine learning enabling real-time knowledge sharing. This technology will reduce reaction times involving real-time data sharing to milliseconds, and once again enable anticipatory capabilities such as predict-and-prevent strategies.
Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)
Additive manufacturing is not new, but what you can do with it and how you can apply it is! With Industry 4.0, advanced additive-manufacturing methods will be integrated into mass production systems, providing a new level of speed and customization, not to mention the ability to solve previously impossible manufacturing problems. It will also be used as a standalone system for custom and/or complex manufacturing.
Augmented Reality
This is a relatively new technology that has been gradually increasing in popularity among consumers outside of industry and, according to my Hard Trend Methodology, will quickly gain more traction as augmented reality (A.R.) apps for business and industry are developed and move beyond the overlaying of information and graphics on a smartphone, tablet, or handheld device screen, to AR glasses that look similar to normal glasses and allow for hands-free information access and use. In Industry 4.0, AR has endless possibilities, including quickly finding parts in a warehouse by looking around from one location, or seeing a video of repair instructions on a screen that is pointed at the object you are repairing as you perform the repair. The uses are only limited to our imaginations.
As with anything new, the adaptation of any of the new technologies in Industry 4.0 will face an uphill battle to some degree. As stated before, blue-collar manufacturing industries are not often known for their open mindedness about embracing new technology, let alone digital tools that are transformational, as it is often seen as a job eliminator. Companies in all industrial sectors must broaden their horizons and their speed of embracing the ever-changing spectrum of Industry 4.0 technologies and likewise deepen their practical knowledge about the revolution these technologies are already creating.
They can be used to accelerate innovation and growth, to pre-solve seemingly impossible problems, develop and implement tailored digital manufacturing solutions, and transform every process. This goes beyond the CEOs, presidents, and leadership of manufacturing companies, and involves middle managers and employees, as the concern is how their jobs may be impacted by all of this new transformational technology and how it will shape employment for all generations. Companies should help their managers and employees alike anticipate disruption and change and get excited about learning new skills that will not only keep them employed, but help to ensure the positive development of their careers as they help build a sustainable future for their companies.
Byline: Daniel Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and innovation experts. He is the CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advances in technology driven trends to help clients profit from technological, social and business forces that are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities.
He is a strategic advisor to executives helping them to develop game-changing strategies based on his proven methodologies for capitalizing on technology innovations. He is the author of seven books, including The New York Times bestseller Flash Foresight, and his latest book The Anticipatory Organization.
To Order FREE book: Visit https://www.anticipatoryorganization.com/get-the-book
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