Techno4Ideas

Although the terms "industry 4.0" and "fourth industrial revolution" are often used interchangeably, "industry 4.0" factories have machines which are augmented with wireless connectivity and sensors, connected to a system that can visualise the entire production line and make decisions on its own.

In essence, industry 4.0 is the trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and processes which include cyber-physical systems (CPS), the internet of things (IoT), industrial internet of things (IIOT), cloud computing , cognitive computing and Artificial intelligence.

The concept includes:

Smart manufacturing
Smart factory
Light out manufacturing also known as dark factories

Industrial internet of thing also called internet of things for manufacturing

Industry 4.0 fosters what has been called a "smart factory". Within modular structured smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralized decisions. Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in real-time both internally and across organizational services offered and used by participants of the value chain.
The industry 4.0 is said to have extensive dependency on the 3D printing technology.

Smart manufacturing

Smart factory

Dark factory

Internet of things

Before Industry 4.0 :

Industry 1.0 refers to the first industrial revolution. It is marked by a transition from hand production methods to machines through the use of steam power and water power. The implementation of new technologies took a long time, so the period which this refers to it is between 1760 and 1820, or 1840 in Europe and the US.

Industry 2.0; the second industrial revolution or better known as the technological revolution is the period between 1870 and 1914. It was made possible with the extensive railroad networks and the telegraph which allowed for faster transfer of people and ideas. It is also marked by ever more present electricity which allowed for factory electrification and the modern production line. It is also a period of great economic growth, with an increase in productivity. It, however, caused a surge in unemployment since many workers were replaced by machines in factories.

The third industrial revolution or Industry 3.0 occurred in the late 20th century, after the end of the two big wars, as a result of a slowdown with the industrialization and technological advancement compared to previous periods. It is also called digital revolution. The global crisis in 1929 was one of the negative economic developments which had an appearance in many industrialized countries from the first two revolutions. The production of Z1 (electrically driven mechanical calculator) was the beginning of more advanced digital developments. This continued with the next significant progress in the development of communication technologies with the supercomputer.

History of industry 4.0

The term "Industrie 4.0", shortened to I4.0 or simply I4, originated in 2011 from a project in the high-tech strategy of the German government, which promotes the computerization of manufacturing.

The term "Industrie 4.0" was publicly introduced in the same year at the Hannover Fair . In October 2012 the Working Group on Industry 4.0 presented a set of Industry 4.0 implementation recommendations to the German federal government. The Industry 4.0 workgroup members and partners are recognized as the founding fathers and driving force behind Industry 4.0. On 8 April 2013 at the Hannover Fair, the final report of the Working Group Industry 4.0 was presented.

German strategy :

The characteristics given for the German government's Industry 4.0 strategy are: the strong customization of products under the conditions of highly flexible (mass-) production.The required automation technology is improved by the introduction of methods of self-optimization, self-configuration,self-diagnosis, cognition and intelligent support of workers in their increasingly complex work.The largest project in Industry 4.0 as of July 2013 is the BMBF leading-edge cluster "Intelligent Technical Systems Ostwestfalen-Lippe (it's OWL)". Another major project is the BMBF project RES-COM, as well as the Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries".In 2015, the European Commission started the international Horizon 2020 research project CREMA (Providing Cloud-based Rapid Elastic Manufacturing based on the XaaS and Cloud model) as a major initiative to foster the Industry 4.0 topic.

Principles and goals:

There are four design principles in Industry 4.0. These principles support companies in identifying and implementing Industry 4.0 scenarios.

Interconnection: The ability of machines, devices, sensors, and people to connect and communicate with each other via the Internet of Things (IoT) or the Internet of People (IoP).
Information transparency: The transparency afforded by Industry 4.0 technology provides operators with vast amounts of useful information needed to make appropriate decisions. Inter-connectivity allows operators to collect immense amounts of data and information from all points in the manufacturing process, thus aiding functionality and identifying key areas that can benefit from innovation and improvement.
Technical assistance: First, the ability of assistance systems to support humans by aggregating and visualizing information comprehensively for making informed decisions and solving urgent problems on short notice. Second, the ability of cyber physical systems to physically support humans by conducting a range of tasks that are unpleasant, too exhausting, or unsafe for their human co-workers.
Decentralized decisions: The ability of cyber physical systems to make decisions on their own and to perform their tasks as autonomously as possible.Only in the case of exceptions, interferences, or conflicting goals, are tasks delegated to a higher level.

Industry 4.0 envisions environmentally-sustainable manufacturing by having green manufacturing processes, green supply chain management, and green products.

Components of Industry 4.0:

“Industry 4.0” is an abstract and complex term consisting of many components when looking closely into our society and current digital trends.

Mobile devices
Internet of Things (IoT) platforms
Location detection technologies
Advanced human-machine interfaces
Authentication and fraud detection
3D printing
Smart sensors
Big data analytics and advanced algorithms
Multilevel customer interaction and customer profiling
Augmented reality/ wearables
Fog, Edge and Cloud computing
Data visualization and triggered "real-time" training

Mainly these technologies can be summarized into four major components, defining the term “Industry 4.0” or “smart factory”:

Cyber-physical systems
IoT
Cloud computing
Cognitive computing

With the help of cyber-physical systems that monitor physical processes, a virtual copy of the physical world can be designed. Thus, these systems have the ability of making decentralized decisions on their own and reach a high degree of autonomy (for more information, see “Industry 4.0 characteristics). As a result, Industry 4.0 networks a wide range of new technologies to create value.

Industry 4.0 Drivers:

What all these components have in common, is that Data and Analytics are their core capabilities. “Industry 4.0” is driven by:

1. Digitization and integration of vertical and horizontal value chains:
Vertically, Industry 4.0 integrates processes across the entire organization for example processes in product development, manufacturing, logistics and service whereas horizontally, Industry 4.0 includes internal operations from suppliers to customers plus all key value chain partners.

2. Digitization of product and service offerings:
Integrating new methods of data collection and analysis for example through the expansion of existing products or creation of new digitised products, helps companies to generate data on product use and thus, to refine products in order to meet best the customers’ needs.
3. Digital business models and customer access:
Reaching customer satisfaction is a multi-stage, never-ending process that needs to be modified currently as customers’ needs change all the time. Therefore, companies expand their offerings by establishing disruptive digital business models to provide their customers digital solutions that meet their needs best.

Industry 4.0 optimizes the computerization of Industry 3.0..

When computers were introduced in Industry 3.0, it was disruptive thanks to the addition of an entirely new technology. Now, and into the future as Industry 4.0 unfolds, computers are connected and communicate with one another to ultimately make decisions without human involvement. A combination of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things and the Internet of Systems make Industry 4.0 possible and the smart factory a reality. As a result of the support of smart machines that keep getting smarter as they get access to more data, our factories will become more efficient and productive and less wasteful. Ultimately, it’s the network of these machines that are digitally connected with one another and create and share information that results in the true power of Industry 4.0.

Effects :

The increasing use of the Industrial Internet of Things is referred to as Industry 4.0 at Bosch, and generally in Germany. Applications include machines that can predict failures and trigger maintenance processes autonomously or self-organized logistics that react to unexpected changes in production.

Challenges

Challenges in implementation of Industry 4.0:
Economic

High economic costs
Business model adaptation
Unclear economic benefits/excessive investment

Social

Privacy concerns
Surveillance and distrust
General reluctance to change by stakeholders
Threat of redundancy of the corporate IT department
Loss of many jobs to automatic processes and IT-controlled processes, especially for blue collar workers

Political

Lack of regulation, standards and forms of certifications
Unclear legal issues and data security

Organisational/ Internal

IT security issues, which are greatly aggravated by the inherent need to open up those previously closed production shops
Reliability and stability needed for critical machine-to-machine communication (M2M), including very short and stable latency times
Need to maintain the integrity of production processes
Need to avoid any IT snags, as those would cause expensive production outages
Need to protect industrial know-how (contained also in the control files for the industrial automation gear)
Lack of adequate skill-sets to expedite the transition towards the fourth industrial revolution
Low top management commitment
Insufficient qualification of employees.

Applications:

While many organizations might still be in denial about how Industry 4.0 could impact their business or struggling to find the talent or knowledge to know how to best adopt it for their unique use cases, several others are implementing changes today and preparing for a future where smart machines improve their business.

Here are just a few of the possible applications:

Identify opportunities:

Optimize logistics and supply chains:

A connected supply chain can adjust and accommodate when new information is presented. If a weather delay ties up a shipment, a connected system can proactively adjust to that reality and modify manufacturing priorities.

Autonomous equipment and vehicles:

There are shipping yards that are leveraging autonomous cranes and trucks to streamline operations as they accept shipping containers from the ships.

Robots:

Once only possible for large enterprises with equally large budgets, robotics are now more affordable and available to organizations of every size. From picking products at a warehouse to getting them ready to ship, autonomous robots can quickly and safely support manufacturers. Robots move goods around Amazon warehouses and also reduce costs and allow better use of floor space for the online retailer.

Additive manufacturing (3D printing):

This technology has improved tremendously in the last decade and has progressed from primarily being used for prototyping to actual production. Advances in the use of metal additive manufacturing have opened up a lot of possibilities for production.

Internet of Things and the cloud:

A key component of Industry 4.0 is the Internet of Things that is characterized by connected devices. Not only does this help internal operations, but through the use of the cloud environment where data is

stored, equipment and operations can be optimized by leveraging the insights of others using the same equipment or to allow smaller enterprises access to technology they wouldn’t be able to on their own.

The aerospace industry has sometimes been characterized as "too low volume for extensive automation" however Industry 4.0 principles have been investigated by several aerospace companies, technologies have been developed to improve productivity where the upfront cost of automation cannot be justified, one example of this is the aerospace parts manufacturer Meggitt PLC's project, M4.

While Industry 4.0 is still evolving and we might not have the complete picture until we look back 30 years from now, companies who are adopting the technologies realize Industry 4.0′s potential. These same companies are also grappling with how to upskill their current workforce to take on new work responsibilities made possible by Internet 4.0 and to recruit new employees with the right skills.