What is the industry 4.0?

Posted by MTC April 10, 2020

WHAT IS INDUSTRY 4.0?

Industry 4.0, or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is about industrial transformation using new digital technology that makes it possible to gather and analyze data across machines and business systems, enabling faster, more flexible, and more efficient processes to produce higher quality individualized goods at reduced cost. This transformation will improve resource productivity and efficiency, drive agility and responsiveness, speed to market, and enable customization to meet customer needs. More specifically, Industry 4.0 refers to the intelligent networking of machines and processes for industry with the help of information and communication technology. The digitalization of the industrial production environment in factories, plants, and warehouses is driven by technology innovations that appeared in the aftermath of the Internet and cloud revolution: IoT-connecting devices; machine-to-machine communication; distributed computing; new edge and cloud technologies, such as containers, micro services, and event-driven architecture; times series and Big Data lakes; machine learning and artificial intelligence; new mobile user experiences, such as augmented or virtual reality to enable digital workers; autonomous systems and vehicles; and cobots and robots.
Most large corporations and many midmarket companies have piloted use cases to assess the business value of Industry 4.0. In a recent McKinsey global survey among discrete manufacturing customers, 68% of respondents recognize the strategic priority.1 While 41% are still piloting, 29% have started to deploy at scale with significant purchase decisions being visible in the market. Companies successfully deploying Industry 4.0 at scale focus on business value not technology, mobilize and train their workforce on new technologies, and move toward an integrated IT infrastructure and automation technology stack. And they manage the company by data-driven processes rather than transactional processes.