Revolution Industrial 4.0

Industrial Revolution conjures up images of factories in an advancing world, quaint, idealistic, science and technology in the making - something we might watch in period movie. That would have been only the first Industrial Revolution, where progress came at the cost of smoke stacks and dark cloudy skies. Since the first, there have been two, more the 2nd : Mass Production and Assembly (Henry Ford’s moving production line for example) and 3rd : Computer and Automation (the universe of Steve Jobs, Siemens, Bosch, General Electric, Kuka, IBM and Bill Gates).

With each step providing a foundation for the next, we have benefited from a higher standard of living, cheaper goods and the expansion of personal freedom and educational empowerment. We my take it for granted that today, you can hop into an Uber, a highly safe and advanced low emission vehicle, and be dropped off at a mall to venture through the stored looking for your next hand-held device or laptop. You could also have stayed home, ordered it online, while catching up on that Udemy or online course you need to finalize certification on to line you up for your next promotion or job interview. Time flash back 100 years to 1919 the world was just emerging from a world war, where the average global citizen was enduring a very different life experience. Personalized transport was the Model T Ford for example, owned only by the very wealthy. Information sharing was by telegram, radio, motion picture with no sound, and the plethora of newspapers.

The term Industry 4.0 was revived in 2011 at the Hanover fair, where interested parties formed a working group headed by Siegfried Dais (Robert Bosch GmbH). With the 3rd Industrial revolution firmly behind us, we can understand the need to define, or at least plot a reasonable road map as to where we are going.

Although I4 (Industrial Revolution 4.0) has often been described in larger industry terms, the benefits for all areas are apparent. 3D printing for example, is one area where information sharing of low-cost open source tech led to the mass production and availability of desktop manufacturing system which enable small to 1 man business to flourish and prototype new ideas.

Design Principles

• Interconnection: Machines, systems and people to share information
• Information Transparency: Interconnection facilitates transparency, where the global citizen has access to information to make the most informed decision
• Technical Assistance: Systems which support people, enabling them with aggregated and visualized information which is comprehensive and enables fast and reliable decision making. This includes assisting people and enterprise accomplish tasks with minimal risk to health and well being of participants
• Decentralized Decision Making: Machines and system have decision making delegated to their assigned roles and performed as autonomously as possible. Only when exceptions are raised, does a higher level of control intervene

Where will I4 take us?

A very apparent affect of I4 is the high degree of interconnection. The internet of things for example, has sparked the revolution of connecting things as simple as the light in our home to the HVAC system at our place at work, to the production line autonomously manufacturing the next generation electric vehicle. This is the basic principle of I4, that by connecting machines, work pieces and systems, businesses are creating intelligent networks along the entire value chain that can control each other autonomously.

For our traditional factories still in operation, not implementing a digital transformation strategy, the changing environment would eventually render them too expensive to operate and compete in a globalized market. Company’s missing the opportunity, eventually resort to outsourcing to the Asian manufacturing centers as a way of fast-tracking economic survival. Implementing I4 principles in traditional factories is about making them more productive and enabling them to produce higher quality goods and better services. This is an opportunity for existing enterprises to “gear up” for the next phase of the organization’s growth. An opportunity to re purpose and empower existing employees to be equipped to work through the challenges of a changing world.

The challenges faced are:

• 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 march towards fourth industrial revolution
• Threat of redundancy of the corporate IT department
• General reluctance to change by stakeholders
• Loss of many jobs to automatic processes and IT-controlled processes, especially for lower educated parts of society
• Low top management commitment
• Unclear legal issues and data security
• Unclear economic benefits/ Excessive investment
• Lack of regulation, standard and forms of certifications
• Insufficient qualification of employees

Economies that embrace I4 as proponents of the revolution, can see improvements and change in the following areas.

Proponents of the term claim Industry 4.0 will affect many areas, most notably:

• Services and business models
• Reliability and continuous productivity
• IT security: Companies like Symantec, Cisco, and Penta Security have already begun to address the issue of IoT security
• Machine safety
• Product life cycles
• Industry value chain
• Workers' education and skills
• Socio-economic factors

Does your company have an I4 roadmap?

The principles of any discipline are just that. They are the guiding lights on the journey through change. Each organization would have to take responsibility for where they are in terms of their respective industries, and then implement a road map as a project plan to ensure they stay competitive, offering better services as they progress.

The Key Benefits of a road map are?

• Setting up coalition of technical and commercial master plans
• Making better communication across teams and companies
• Inspecting prospective competitive strategies and ways to carry out those strategies
• Competent time management and mapping out
• Conceptualizing outputs including goals, activities, and progresses

Who can help?

Since I4 fundamentally promotes IOT, automation and implementation of new technology and interconnection of devices, HavenTechnik is a technology and consultative partner for that next step in your organization’s future.

HavenTechnik is an Embedded Engineering initiative. Architecting & consulting on projects and systems for a range of applications from domestic to industrial.

Microchip PIC Coder | PCB Design & Assembly | IOT | APPs & Software | Energy Harvesting | Process Control & Automation | Automation Testing | Technical Writing

Email : [email protected]