Decoding the Industry 4.0 Technologies

Industry 4.0 technologies have perfectly come together to supercharge their manufacturing efficiency, profitability, and even customer experiences. It’s little wonder that a number of manufacturers spent $907 billion on Industry 4.0 technologies in the year 2020.

In this article, we are going to define Industry 4.0 and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We'll also explain why the world requires Industry 4.0 technologies more than ever, and also break down every vital Industry 4.0 technology, finding out how these Industry 4.0 technologies can be used in your business.

Industry 4.0 Definition

Industry 4.0 refers to the digital transformation of the manufacturing sector–bringing together the operational with the informational. It also marks the coming together of some highly major disruptive technologies (explored later,) which McKinsey groups into four groups:

1. Data and connectivity: Big Data, the cloud, IIoT (industrial internet of things)

2. Analytics and intelligence: AI, machine learning, advanced algorithms

3. Human-machine interaction: AR, VR, next-generation interfaces

4. Digital-to-physical conversion: Additive manufacturing, autonomous robotics

Most people think that Industry 4.0 means the simple digitizing of existing manufacturing processes. But Industry 4.0 is a lot more than that. Rather than just replacing existing systems with their digital alternatives, Industry 4.0 leaders are now redesigning their entire operations into "smart factories".

What’s a smart factory? It’s actually a cyber-physical network. The shop floor, machine operators, back-office systems, supply chains, and the pools of data get connected via the cloud. The smart factory monitors itself, and self-optimizes and self-modifies in the process. It's autonomous and adapts to newer opportunities and challenges as they arise.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, but the "4.0" into Industry 4.0. His 2016 book, titled The Fourth Industrial Revolution (highly recommended,) describes a new industrial stage that revolves around new emerging technologies that bring the physical, digital, and even biological worlds.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents the fourth time when industries have switched to all-new manufacturing technology. The three previous Industrial Revolutions were as follows:

• The First Industrial Revolution (1760-1840): Took place in Europe and the United States. Saw the transition from manual production methods to machines, and also the rise of steam and water power.

• The Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914): the Technological Revolution. It brought a widespread adoption of telegraph networks, and gas and water supply. Factory electrification and the production line.

• The Third Industrial Revolution (the 1960s): Simple digitization and high-level automation in production.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is completely changing the way goods are produced at a fundamental level. It's a paradigm shift, something which was not seen since the 18th Century. Industry 4.0 companies stand to take a huge lead over their competitors. Still, manufacturers are pretty slow to embrace this progress.

Their lethargy is the result of two widespread myths that need to be dispelled ASAP:

Myth #1 - Industry 4.0 technologies are hugely cost consuming: Not true. Manufacturers can immediately get to work with technologies like AI, VR, AR, Big Data, Machine Learning, and cloud computing, thanks to SaaS solutions that have modestly priced subscription models.

Myth #2 - Industry 4.0 technologies are only for large enterprises: Not true. Cloud computing and SaaS have cut down the barriers to adoption, powering up the companies of one to 100,000+.

The Best Industry 4.0 Technologies

Here's a rundown of the fundamental Industry 4.0 Technologies all set to digitally transform the manufacturing processes over the 2020s and beyond.

Data and Connectivity

1. Cloud Computing

Smart factories are vertically and horizontally integrated through the cloud. Internal business functions like sales, marketing, engineering, and production get integrated vertically. External entities like suppliers, logistics, and taxation bodies, get integrated horizontally.

Without the cloud, the rapid data sharing needed to sustain Industry 4.0 technologies would not be possible. The benefits of cloud integration are very vast and wide-ranging. They include:

• Efficiency

• Flexibility and agility

• Scalability

• Customer satisfaction and retention

• Collaboration (breaking down silos)

• Automation

• Lower costs and increased revenue

1. IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things)

Sensors are embedded into everything from machines to products, vehicles, pallets, and workers, feed the computer systems with a rich amount of data, identify the bottlenecks, failures, and inefficiencies.

1. Big Data

Fifty-nine zettabytes (ZB). That's the amount of data that was created, copied, captured, and consumed in 2020. To put that amount of data into perspective, at the current internet speeds, downloading that much volume of data would take about 600 million years!

Buried within this precious data, manufacturers find the secrets to their long-term success. They just need the right kind of technology to extract it: through analytics and intelligence.

Analytics and Intelligence

1. AI (Artificial Intelligence)

AI carves its way throughout the entire Industry 4.0 ecosystem, providing machines with the ability to think and behave "intelligently." Here are two examples:

• Predictive maintenance: machines can predict their defects and fix themselves well in advance, cutting on the downtime and then extending product lifetimes.

• Generative design: AI can generate unique product ideas and then test them under different conditions, predicting the profitability and performance.

1. Machine Learning

Machine learning is the analysis of algorithms that teach themselves and improve over time. It’s an application of AI.

The most frequently cited example of machine learning is AlphaZero: it’s a deep-learning algorithm developed by the Google-owned AI lab, DeepMind. Through machine learning, AlphaZero was able to master chess, shogi, and Go by playing against itself in a million scenarios. Within an hour, it had become the best player–human/machine–ever.

Human-Machine Interaction

1. Industrial Augmented Reality (AR)

AR puts computer-generated imagery in the real world, as viewed with the screen of a mobile or wearable device. Manufacturers can then use this view to supervise product assembly, warehouse operations, maintenance, and repair, or even quality control for that matter. Workers get their information in real-time. The possibilities are absolutely endless.

1. Virtual reality (VR)

VR places users within a simulated reality where they experience a number of different scenarios. Training and testing can then be carried out virtually, free from the real-world consequences. So no downtime, product recalls, or safety hazards.

Digital-to-Physical Conversion

1. Autonomous Robotics

AI-powered autonomous robots perform highly-skilled, non-repetitive tasks that are free from human error and quality issues. They can work independently, with the other robots, or even in tandem with humans. They figure out their surroundings, solve multiple problems, and also make intelligent decisions in the process.

1. Additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) translates the CAD models into real-world 3D objects. Objects get created by depositing plastics, metals, or even ceramics, layer–by–layer. It refers to making a batch-of-one production run financially viable and moving production sites closer to customers.

Industry 4.0 Technologies Have Come at the Right Time

Moore's Law was perhaps the most remarkable technological prediction of the 20th Century. It states that the number of transistors on a single chip gets doubled every two years, while the cost gets cut down by half—the result: exponential technological advance.

Moore's Law proved to be very, very accurate. As a result, we got the home computer, the smartphone, and, one would assume, a marked improvement in manufacturing productivity. But that assumption would actually be wrong. From getting bigger and moving offshore, pretty little has changed on the average shop floor over the last few decades.

Despite Moore's Law (which appears to be slipping), manufacturing productivity stagnated over the last 50 years. If the trend continues on this track, the end result will be disastrous: Global economic growth will halve over the next 50 years, leaving millions lying in poverty.

50% of S&P 500 firms will be replaced within the next decade. This huge change will be, in a large part, because of their failure to take up Industry 4.0 technologies. Manufacturers need Industry 4.0 now more than ever. So does the world