How Industry 4.0 Is Bringing Digital Transformation to Life for Smart Manufacturing

Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing the manufacture and distribution of products across a variety of industrial sectors.

It’s helping companies analyze historical trends and identify patterns and anomalies to make better operational decisions.

It’s creating intelligent, efficient, more environmentally-friendly factories, whose growth and performance is on the up as their carbon-footprint steadily declines.

But what’s at the core of this digital revolution in smart manufacturing, and how are we leveraging technology at CGI to bring exciting transformations to life for our clients through Industry 4.0?

That’s what I’m getting into today.

Why Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 is essentially a data-driven approach to smart manufacturing. It is centred on intelligent, interconnected and autonomous manufacturing assets and systems, powered by emerging technologies.

Traditionally, manual production processes, limited connectivity in a shop floor and misaligned workflows stand in the way of getting products out the door more efficiently and quickly. AI, Machine Learning, the Cloud and connected devices can all provide a new operational model to avoid operational obsolescence.

Many companies don’t have the in-house expertise to design, execute and improve factory performance through the use of these emerging technologies.

However, with deep industry and technology expertise, CGI brings these emerging technologies and innovative solutions to clients, to optimize their overall manufacturing process. We do this through connecting IoT devices, underpinning data-driven systems, adopting AI and machine learning technologies, collecting critical metrics and visualizing data results in real-time.

The benefits of Industry 4.0 transformation

Harnessing the potential of digital transformation through the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) is a key driver for net-zero industrial clusters.

A shining example is SIP in Jiangsu, China, one of the top, most modern industrial parks in the world – nearly three times larger than the city of Paris. The park is powered by innovative AI and IoT-enabled services that constantly benchmark the energy and carbon intensity and pick the most optimal carbon and energy settings at a cost-effective range.

Using low-carbon and net-zero energy, any vendor at the park automatically receives tracking of their energy efficiency, emissions and recommended actions. The aggregated data from the entire park is then used to fuel future research and innovation to drive further prosperity, efficiency and growth.

These are the key technologies we’re using at CGI for Industry 4.0 transformations

●    The Internet of Things (IoT). Assets are equipped with interconnected sensors. This connectivity enables large amounts of valuable data to be collected, transformed and analyzed.

●    The Cloud. Smart manufacturing requires good connectivity and integration between different business functions such as supply chain, production, distribution, sales and service. The cloud enables the creation of an integrated digital platform to streamline business operations. Also, the large amount of data being stored and analyzed is processed more efficiently and cost-effectively using the cloud.

●    Artificial Intelligence. The beauty of AI lies in its ability to find those hidden anomalies while the system is behaving in a seemingly normal fashion. AI and machine learning allow manufacturers to take full advantage of internal and external data sources. AI provides real-time visibility and recommendations concerning asset behaviour, availability, health status and potential problems and failures. Machine learning enables self-learning and delivers key optimization settings to automatically bring the manufacturing process back to the optimum configuration. AI and machine learning also drive mass customization and personalization, instead of mass production, which is more cost-effective.

Additionally, maintenance activities without AI incur unnecessary expense. A smart factory uses an anomaly detection algorithm to predict asset failure and schedule maintenance per anticipated demand. This reduces both downtime and cost.

●    Edge computing. The demands of instant actionable insights for real-time production operations mean that some predictive smarts and data analysis must be performed at the Edge – the device where the data was originally created. For example, the detection of a safety or quality issue may require instantaneous action with the equipment.

 ●    Digital Twins. These are virtual replicas of assets, equipment, processes and production lines. A digital twin pulls relevant data from IoT sensors and devices. Manufacturers can use digital twins to improve workflows, design new products and correct production issues remotely. This minimizes downtime and improves quality and productivity.

The Covid pandemic has forced many manufacturers to accelerate their efforts to increase operational efficiency. Gaining clear, real-time visibility across operations - without having people physically present on-site – has been effectively achieved by leveraging Digital Twin technology.

How these emerging technologies are transforming manufacturing industries

Smart factories leverage data from other areas of the organization such as human resources, sales and warehousing, as well as external data sources such as the extended ecosystem of distributors and suppliers, to create more holistic and deeper actionable data insights based on sales margins, personnel and market supply and demand.

An intelligent factory is self-optimized yet does not remove decision-making power from humans. The base prerequisite is the integration of machines, applications and people and then applying AI technology to assist in self-learning processes and actionable insights.

The result is greener, more efficient manufacturing processes, and more resilient products, as low-carbon technologies converge with digitally optimized factories.

For example, shop floor quality control personnel can use a smartphone connected to the Cloud to monitor production processes from anywhere in the world. By applying machine learning, manufacturers can detect errors immediately, rather than at later stages when repair work is more expensive or not possible.

Another example is the use of AI-powered assets in the mining industry, which are deployed for underground operations. They have no downtime, the settings can be self-optimized based on the required workload, and they mitigate the safety risks of hazardous conditions (e.g. fire, flood, collapse, or toxic atmospheric contaminants) for humans. 

In the case of both discrete and process manufacturing, using unsupervised and supervised machine learning improves production processes. AI uses petabytes of data generated by interconnected systems and predictive models to enhance machinery utilization and optimize maintenance schedules and workforce management.

AI can also drive visual and acoustic models that spot production glitches and monitor the quality of produced goods. Running these models through edge computing facilitates proactive action.

Take for example a steel manufacturer who presently cannot judge the quality of their output until the end of the manufacturing process. Using AI and machine learning predictive models, they could anticipate where costly cracks in their steel would occur and adjust the manufacturing process to reduce the enormous costs associated with damaged products.

How CGI is helping one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world

CGI drives many strategic projects designed to deliver the benefits of Industry 4.0 to our clients.

One example is our partnership with one of the world’s largest manufacturing organizations on digital services and transformation, in which we are optimizing and improving the agility of their aluminum operations.

As a global leader in supply chain optimization, CGI works closely with the aluminum division to adapt its operational processes through innovative digital technologies. Widely, we are enabling the company to better respond to their clients' evolving expectations and deliver personalized products.

This is just one of many partnerships through which CGI is facilitating transformative operational change.