CGI NETHERLANDS
WHAT IS THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ?
DID YOU KNOW ...
Industry 4.0 refers to the transformation in the way goods are produced and delivered – moving on from industrial automation and the flexible factory towards fully connected factories , based on the application of new technologies .
To have a competitive edge , manufacturers have recognised they must leverage digital technologies post-covid-19 . New technologies are developed at an increasing speed ; Enabling ways of working that were not possible before . Technologies also enable each other : self-service analytics , IOT , AI , cloud , mobile , quantum computing , 5G , combined with a strong vision and process will enable and enforce manufacturers to become more agile and more responsive .
As an example , a secure wireless connectivity in connection with affordable sensors enables it to retrieve data from manufacturing segments that were never
measured before . Feeding back the information to PLC ’ s , empowers factory automation , making industrial automation possible on a much larger scale which will in turn increase productivity and performance . With the computation power of the cloud , AI algorithms can analyse vast amounts of data and create learning from these data in an automated way . This learning can be used to optimise processes in factories in a way that was not possible up until several years ago .
Huge gains await industries that go digital – in manufacturing , it enables flexible production by allowing smart factories to rapidly changeover production lines to shorten lead times and quickly identify glitches .
To accelerate smart manufacturing , digital twins of machines and operations will be a necessity for safe simulation and intelligent optimisation , as will factory automation and real-time control of equipment and tasks .
126 April 2021