Industry 4.0 - The 4th Industrial Revolution

​

What is industry 4.0?

​

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) is the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology.

 

Large-scale machine-to-machine communication (M2M) and the internet of things (IoT) are integrated for increased automation, improved communication and self-monitoring, and production of smart machines that can analyse and diagnose issues without the need for human intervention.

.

Industry 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0

 

Below is a summary about the first three industrial revolutions that

preceded the Fourth one.

​

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The First Industrial Revolution was marked by a transition from hand

production methods to machines through the use of steam power and

water power.

 

The new technologies:

• Took a long time to be implemented (from 1765 to 1820, or 1840 in

      Europe and the United States).

• Affected the textile manufacturing, which was first to adopt such

      changes, iron industry, agriculture, and mining although it also had

      societal effects with an ever stronger middle class.

 

It also had an effect on British industry at the time.

​

The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, is the period between 1871 and 1914 that resulted from installations of extensive railroad and telegraph networks These allowed for faster transfer of people and ideas, as well as electricity.

 

Increasing electrification allowed for factories to develop the modern production line.

 

It was a period of great economic growth, with an increase in productivity, which also caused a surge in unemployment since many factory workers were replaced by machines.

​

The Third Industrial Revolution, also known as the Digital Revolution,

occurred in the late 20th century, after the end of the two world wars,

resulting from a slowdown with industrialization and technological

advancement compared to previous periods.

 

The global financial crisis in 1929, followed by the Great Depression,

affected many industrialized countries, following the first two revolutions.

The production of the Z1 computer was the beginning of more advanced

digital developments. This continued with the next significant progress in

development of communication technologies with the supercomputer.

In this process, where there was extensive use of computer and

communication technologies in the production process. Machinery

began to abrogate the need for human power.

​

The German Strategy

​

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 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.

 

This working group was headed by Siegfried Dais, of Robert Bosch

GmbH, and Henning Kagermann, of the German Academy of Science

and Engineering.

​

As Industry 4.0 principles have been applied by companies they have

sometimes been rebranded, e.g. aerospace parts manufacturer Meggitt

PLC has branded its own Industry 4.0 research project M4.

​

Biggest trends in The Fourth Industrial Revolution

​

The biggest trend towards automation and data

exchange in manufacturing technologies and

processes which include:

• Cyber-physical systems (CPS)

• Internet of Things (IoT)

• Industrial internet of things (IIoT)

• Cloud computing

• Cognitive computing

• Artificial intelligence (AI).

​

Smart factory

​

The Fourth Industrial Revolution fosters the concept of the "smart factory". Within modular structured smart factories cyber-physical systems (CPS) monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world, and make decentralized decisions.

• Over the internet of things (IoT), cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in synchronic time both internally and across organizational services offered and used by participants of the value chain.

 

Predictive maintenance

 

Industry 4.0 can also provide predictive maintenance, due to the use of

technology and the IoT sensors. Predictive maintenance can identify

maintenance issues in live system allows machine owners to perform

cost-effective maintenance and determine it ahead of time before the

machinery fails or gets damaged. 

 

Example: a company in LA could understand if a piece of equipment in

Singapore is running at an abnormal speed or temperature. They could

then decide whether or not it needs to be repaired.

 

3D printing technology

 

The 4th Industrial Revolution is said to have extensive dependency on

3D printing technology.  Some advantages for the industry are that 3D

printing can:

• Print many geometric structures

• Simplify the product design process

• Decrease lead times and total production costs in low-volume production

• Increase flexibility

• Be very useful for printing spare parts and installing it locally, therefore reducing supplier dependence and reducing the supply lead time.

• ​Reduce warehousing costs

• Help the company towards the adoption of a mass customization business strategy

​

The determining factor is the pace of change. The correlation of speed

of technological development and socio-economic and infrastructural

transformations with human life allow us to state a qualitative leap in the

speed of development, which marks a transition to a new time era.

 

Smart sensors

​

Sensors and instrumentation drive the central forces of innovation, not

only for Industry 4.0, but also for other “smart ” mega trends, such as

smart production, mobility, homes, cities, and smart factories.

 

Smart sensors are devices, which generate the data and allow further

functionality from self-monitoring and self-configuration to condition

monitoring of complex processes. With the capability of wireless

communication, they reduce installation effort to a great extent and help

realize a dense array of sensors.

 

The importance of sensors, measurement science, and smart evaluation for Industry 4.0 has been recognized and acknowledged by various experts and has already led to the statement “Industry 4.0: nothing goes without sensor systems”.

However, there are few issues, such as time synchronization error, data loss, and dealing with large amounts of harvested data, which all limit the implementation of full-fledged systems. Moreover, additional limits on these functionalities represents the battery power.

 

Example of integrating smart sensors in electronic devices, is the case of smart watches which:

• Receive the data from the movement of the user

• Process the data

• Provide the user with the information about how many steps they have walked in a day

• Converts the data into calories burned.

 

Scope of application: agriculture, food industry, manufacturing, aerospace, academia, R&D, etc.

 

The Fourth Industrial Revolution marks the beginning of the imagination age.

​

Coming soon!!! We are finalising a 1-day training course to introduce  Industry 4.0 to our corporate clients.

​

​