5 Myths about industry 4.0 in developing economies.

In this article, I set out to debunk some lingering myths about the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and examines the opportunities for businesses in developing economies.

Many people believe the Fourth Industrial Revolution represents the ultimate threat to humanity. We at Jendamark believe the opposite – that it presents a real opportunity to address South Africa’s significant socio-economic challenges, if we use the technology correctly to unlock human potential.

Jendamark’s roots lie in the Third Industrial Revolution (3IR). Over the past two decades, we have become a global exporter and special-purpose machine builder for the automotive industry; designing and manufacturing turnkey production lines for our customers.?

Now we are on a journey to transform our business from a 3IR company, focused on automated and manual solutions, to a 4IR-driven business that also develops complementary digital production solutions for industry.?

For ourselves and our customers, this means implementing new digital technologies that improve operating efficiencies to remain globally competitive. It could also mean radically re-evaluating the entire business model and seeing how best to position the business to leverage the new networked economy. Consider how Airbnb and Uber have reimagined the hotel and taxi industries by leveraging individual service providers and existing platforms such as Google Maps and online payment systems.

But before this transformation can take place, every business needs to imagine and understand what this shifting landscape of 4IR could look like for them. As a point of departure, this article will hopefully dispel a few pervasive myths about what the 4IR will do – and the opportunities it can bring.

1. 4IR will make jobs obsolete

For many people, the term ‘Industry 4.0’ or ‘4IR’ causes fear and anxiety, because it is associated with job losses.

But this is not strictly true. When correctly applied, 4IR can actually create jobs. The confusion arises when people mistakenly conflate the ideas of automation and digitalisation.

Automation, which is what some of the big manufacturing organisations are focusing on, does take people off production lines. Digitalisation, on the other hand, uses technology to create job opportunities.

Some of the biggest organisations in South Africa don’t necessarily employ the most people.

Take Uber, for example. Over the past six or seven years, digitalising the taxi service has created 13?000 jobs for Uber drivers in South Africa alone.

2. 4IR will require more skills

To illustrate why this is a myth, let us stay with the example of the taxi cab driver. Did you know that, in order to become a licensed London taxi cab driver, you have to memorise 25?000 street names? During your exam, you are given random locations within London and must recommend the quickest route from Point A to Point B – all from memory.

By applying technology to this scenario, as in the Uber example, any person with a driver’s licence and smartphone can be empowered to become a taxi driver and navigate the busy city streets.?

This is an important point, and at Jendamark we want all the solutions that we develop to unlock the opportunity for unskilled people to be able to work safely and securely on a manufacturing line, while equipping semi-skilled people to do more complicated tasks. We believe this is the only way to bring more and more people into the economy and empower them to contribute to society.

3. 4IR can only follow 3IR

Another false but commonly held belief is that 4IR principles can only be applied once you have implemented those of the Third Industrial Revolution.

Throughout history, each successive industrial revolution has introduced a new type of technology that solved a particular problem.?

For us, the goal should not be to pursue and progress to the next technological era but rather to fully understand the customer problem – and to apply the right solution for that problem. It may not need automation – it might require straight digitalisation, or a combination of the two.

We do not accept the idea that a developing country must first master 3IR before advancing to 4IR. For instance, a few African states bypassed the expansion of residential landline telephone systems and went straight to the cellphone when it became available because the technology was more effective and cost-effective to implement. Applying the right available technology to the right solution is far more important than following a certain sequence of events.

4. 4IR tech will harm us

Thanks to popular dystopian science fiction movies and books, there is also a misplaced assumption that artificial intelligence (AI) is going to take over, and that technology is going to harm the human race.

Again, I'd like to remind everyone that technology has never been deterministic and, to illustrate this, there is no better example than nuclear technology. We can use nuclear power for beneficial purposes, such as treating certain cancers, or we can turn the same tech on each other in the form of weapons of mass destruction.

As humans, we will always be the drivers of the outcome of the technology, which is why ethics in this new world will become increasingly important. Artificial intelligence technologies can create either opportunities or problems – it’s up to us to decide how we harness this technology.?

5. 4IR has no space in the developing world

The last myth I would like to unpack is this idea that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has no space for, or in, the developing world.

If you examine the inverted population pyramid of Western Europe, the populations are steadily shrinking. Already there are fewer young people entering the working world. Basic economics tells us that, because the supply is less, the demand for labour will be higher. Therefore, labour costs are rocketing in developed countries, forcing them to automate processes and to do more with fewer people to stay competitive.

By contrast, the African population pyramid has a huge “youth bulge” on the way. It saddens me that in South Africa alone, 75% of our youth are unemployed – way above the national unemployment rate.

For developing countries, we have to change the paradigm on how we use technology and make it work to solve our challenges. We have to use it to do more with more people. We have the human capital. The real opportunity for our population is digitalisation, not automation.

Making 4IR work for humans

We can use technology to empower humans on production lines through, for example, operator guidance systems that help unskilled workers to complete complex assembly tasks step by step.

If the operator makes a mistake, such as picking the wrong part or tightening bolts in the wrong sequence, the intuitive system can alert and redirect them to the correct steps to get the assembly process back on track. (Think how Google Maps reroutes you when you miss a turn.)

Similarly, digital quality assurance systems can be put in place to ensure traceability and that assembly processes have been followed correctly so that the finished product is assembled to customer requirements.

Before a new machine or line is even a reality, new technologies can be used to create that reality. For example, customers can use augmented reality to “walk through” the design approval process, while operators can be trained in a risk-free environment on a virtual reality version of the assembly facility.

From a developing country perspective, we need to understand the solutions that are available and get creative on how we network these solutions together to solve our particular challenges. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel or cloud computing. We just need to make 4IR work for us as Africans and not implement it in ways that were created to solve a different problem for a different country.

This is the real opportunity and fundamental principle that should guide our thinking – to empower our people and make 4IR more human.