The Fourth Industrial Revolution in Mexico.....and beyond.

The so-called 4.0 industry gets its origin from a lexical coupling of what is the fourth industrial revolution, which follows a chronological order. The first one begins with the massive production of energy, which took advantage of the physics and the mechanics of the XVIII century.

The second one begins in the XIX century with the planning of mass production and the use of electric energy generation. It consolidates in the beginning of the XX century with the serial production of automotive vehicles (in particular the Ford models, which were considered as the culmination of the second industrial revolution). The third one appears in the late 60s.

Even though the exact origin is not known, it corresponds to the incorporation of the automatization of production, meaning, without the presence of a human, using the denominated digital electronics that gave rise to computers as we know them today -which were the analogical computers of the beginnings of the XX century-, the third industrial revolution takes advantage of its capacities as an electronic instrument thanks to the fact that it is reprogrammable, unlike the analogical computer because it’s physical components can’t change properties. This is when the new industrial robots that begin to be able to be involved in production lines appear.

Because of this, a very big change in handwork management can be noticed.

This change brought up the dream of the perfect machine, the machine that not only is it able to help humans, but may also substitute them someday. During the fourth industrial revolution, the dream of the perfect machine is brought up again and it begins to consolidate; calculations begin to disappear, to be ethereal, and we begin to talk about the cloud with this image that somewhere in space all our information is stored, when in reality everything is down here on Earth. -In many places of North America, northern Asia, and Europe, the big data centers are actually located underground because of temperature management reasons-. The fourth industrial revolution is a convergence of how the production lines of the XX century incorporate not only humans, but also machines and robots, and we begin to discuss how these machines can have intelligence.

What is the 4.0 Industry integrated of ?

Basically, it is intended to be defined as a new system of production, where there are intelligent factories which are interconnected to the supply chain as the same processes of fabrication, in the conduct of how the technical operator is now also part of that logistic. You can know the times of movement, arterial pressure, real time state of health, stress level, attention capacities, propensity to risk, etc. of the worker; basically the behavior. On the other hand, data storage has now lowered in price and this has allowed bigger amounts of data to be worked with (this is where the term big data comes from). What used to fit a small disk now fits that information a thousand times or a million times that, you can easily work with larger volumes of data.The most interesting thing is that now, it is like a standard to be able to consider the information of many data to make decisions.

4.0 Elements

One of its elements is the cloud computing known as in cloud where, not only the information, but also the software is stored somewhere. The most common example is the Siri tool on iPhone devices, where pressing the home button gives access to a virtual person who is listening to you and whom you can ask for recommendations, for example “how do you say hello in French”. This information is then processed and sent very rapidly to the phone and a synthesis is sent to the cloud, where a huge computer is receiving millions of transactions and then rapidly finding an answer to be executed by the phone that solicited the information.

That is the great thing about cloud computing; it is important because the way of treating information is different and, above all; this is what is known as electronic government or electronic commerce, it is the fact that, in the long run, it is possible to dispense with intermediaries that is basically It seems that we now call intelligence to everything that we cannot do, that is, an intelligence that comes to compensate for what our intelligence is limited.

The same motivation as what is known as i-government, based on a series of services that have costs and where governments and businesses seek to reduce these costs, especially in the satisfaction of customers and citizens.

Another very typical concept of the 4.0 industry is additive manufacturing, in which, beyond what we know as 3D printing, this includes features that make products light in terms of characteristics. They can be lighter in cost and in weight, this thanks to the artificial intelligence techniques of robotics that allow to make impressions and manipulation of objects in a much more effective way. It also implies the need to integrate, in a horizontal and vertical way, in the production processes, new techniques, new sensors, which with the natural extension of being monitoring the objects that are operated, allow the creation of new, virtual reality scenarios.

For example, putting on glasses that do nothing other than assemble information that is processed on a computer through sensors. It seems that we now call intelligence to all that we cannot do, that is, an intelligence that comes to compensate for what our intelligence is limited.

This augmented reality - The internet of things-, this quantity of information, also allows us to make prognostics. Basically what is denominated analytics, is this conjunction of techniques that allow, based on the simulation, to be able to make predictions, which is something that may sound kind of exotic, but is nothing other than trying to use past experiences to find similarities of characteristics for a possible future scenario. What the computer does is a small inference that is very similar to an experience that has already happened.

This dynamic of putting the consumer at the center, is what is allowing the fourth industrial revolution to begin to have penetration and to boom greater than before.

Then there is what is robotics in both directions: autonomous robotics and collaborative robotics. It is the management of devices that can be programmed not only to make calculations but also to interact with the environment; for example, manufacturing. Every day we see even more and more applications of medical robotics that can help: people in rehab, doctors with sophisticated surgeries, etc.

The only thing that has come to join the industry is Fintech or all the technology that is combined with the famous blockchain, which is nothing more than a structure made for the sole purpose of storing information, but that is only temporary. The characteristic of the blockchain, unlike other techniques, is that it allows a network of computers, a network of memory sets, to validate the computerized temporal existence of information, in such a way that history is inviolable. It happens that all the transactions that run above the blockchain are replicated in parallel in all the machines of a network and if you want to alter any of them, among all the others deny the alteration capacity because they already have other information in time.

The interesting thing about blockchain is that it allows, and partly for that, it is used initially, to make monetary transactions with bitcoin inviolable. There are also many developments in the health and energy departments, so that information can be managed in an integrated manner.

What revolution is Mexico in?

Basically, the answer is based on the extent to which we assimilate the first industrial revolution, as far as the second, as far as the third, and then as we enter the fourth. I believe that only in the countries where these revolutions originated, is where you have had time to live them as they are. What is happening is that, there were countries where a revolution lasted longer for various reasons. A large part of Africa is still living between the first and second industrial revolutions. A similar situation also happened to a large section of Mexico. If we want to compare Latin America and Asia, we can simply just say that they have different speeds. In the economic zone of Shenzhen in China, they are living in maybe the start of the fifth industrial revolution, but 100 kilometers from Shenzhen, if you take a look at the fields, you can observe that they are living in the first industrial revolution.

That is a bit what you have to understand, what has happened with the industrial revolutions.

In Mexico they have been living like this mainly due to the influence of foreign investment.Still in this country, as in others in the world, we are suffering the consequences of some revolutions; there are still sectors that base their return on investment in a very aggressive way with the cost of labor, when other sectors are very clear that they cannot continue thinking about a financial strategic planning assuming very low labor costs.

There is nothing that I wish for more than that we could, quickly, identify in which areas it is necessary to keep these revolutionaries from the first, the second or the third revolution, but always with eves to evolve. What is true is that the generation gap is growing more and more in the new work spectrum. In all this we say to define industry 4.0, it is behind a magic word, which does not appear as it is, and I have always suggested that the fourth industrial revolution begins there: the internet is what has allowed us to transition to the fourth revolution and I think that the evolutions on the internet are what will generate a fifth industrial revolution.

Economic policies for taking the internet beyond cities, they are causing that in regions where they were thought to be in the first or second industrial revolution, people are demanding things from the fourth, for prices, even the very involvement of the commercial or consumer practices. It would seem that the user is beginning to gain ground because it is we who are ultimately the ones who are excited to shape the production. A very clear example still does not have everything, but there is more and more the ability of the consumer, through the internet and the computer, to dictate the production in some way. This dynamic of putting the consumer at the center, is what is allowing the fourth industrial revolution to begin to have penetration and to boom greater than before.

In Yucatan we’ve had a very interesting evolution in the processes of reengineer of the modern sweatshop industry. Many of us dare to say that we are working in the mind-invoice stage, we try to differentiate ourselves through innovation. We no longer necessarily seek customers with whom to compete with other suppliers in China or Asia for the cost of cheap labor, we are synchronized generating an ecosystem where industry 4.0 is.

I believe that only in the countries where these revolutions originated, is where you have had time to live them as they are part of the language.

We have undertaken quite on time. Yucatan has had a new university for 2 years, planned 3 years ago, dreamed 4 years ago and started 5 years ago. It takes time to take actions of this magnitude. The careers that make up the Polytechnic University of Yucatan are basically careers of the 4.0 industry; pillars such as computational robotics, embedded electronic systems, and data science and engineering are fundamental elements.

In the same context, Heuristic, product of the interaction of the privatized sector with the state government and CONACYT, has as its motto the automation of specialized knowledge.

Heuristic’s vision is to concentrate companies interested in working to generate value of human knowledge and to be able to use it in technology.

Heuristic is located in the scientific park, a mecca for the generation of state knowledge. We are in the way to have an special economic zone, which favors innovation, scientific and technological development in these areas. We can say that we have been generating so that both local and foreign companies can have a firm platform.

Also the sectors denominated as priorities: commerce, the tourist industry, the agricultural sector, pillars of the economy, development and growth of Yucatan, are assimilating in a very correct way the new technologies.

Also the sectors denominated as priorities: commerce, the tourist industry, the agricultural sector, pillars of the economy, development and growth of Yucatan, are assimilating in a very correct way the new technologies.

Also the sectors denominated as priorities: commerce, the tourist industry, the agricultural sector, pillars of the economy, development and growth of Yucatan, are assimilating in a very correct way the new technologies.

We have a good time in Yucatan. It makes sense to think that Yucatan is on the right track, policies have been properly implemented, but we have to continue and even stronger than before. We need to move forward and keep track of what we should do and where we want to go.

*You are invited to have a look on my regular articles at El Financiero