What is Industry 4.0? All you ought to know about the Fourth Industrial Revolution

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Let's understand first what is Industry 4.0?

Technology, business and our work environment are all interrelated. Evolution and changes form the crux of everything. Just now when we are getting a grip on the Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Services (IoS) as a new dynamic, we have been brought on the threshold of Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 was the brainchild of the German Government. They described Industry 4.0 as the next phase in manufacturing evolution, promoting the computerization/digitalization of manufacturing industry. On the outset, Industry 4.0 is bringing humankind and machine together for faster output with better visibility of data automation and ability to view strategic and critical data on the go. In a brief history, the first industrial revolution or Industry 1.0 mobilised the mechanization of production using water and steam power. Industry 2.0 or the second industrial revolution introduced mass production with the help of electric power, followed by Industry 3.0 where the focus was on digital revolution and the use of electronics and IT to automate production. Industry 4.0 seeks to harness the power of Internet of Things by embracing a number of contemporary automation abilities, data exchanges and cyber security manufacturing technologies. Industry 4.0 seeks to digitalize every step involved in the manufacturing industry while providing visibility, analytics and ability to take real time decisions for the management.

2 1.Horizontal and Vertical System Integration:

Key Principles of Industry 4.0: 2.The Internet of Things:

6.Simulation:

3.Cybersecurity:

7.Additive manufacturing (3D printing):

8.Augmented reality:

5.Big data analytics:

4.Cloud: 4.Cloud:

9.Robots:

1.Horizontal and Vertical System Integration: Partners, Vendors, Customers and everyone on the supply chain are very important to the manufacturing industry but even with the best available portals and technology, data is strewn and compiling them requires putting in manual efforts leading to data duplicity. Industry 4.0 calls for anintegrated Internet of Things and Internet of Services by integrating all the horizontal andvertical integrations to ensure collaboration not only between departments, but also across the company’s external partieslike partners, suppliers, customers and vendors.

2.The Internet of Things: Internet of Things is a fusion of all physical peripherals like software, sensors, electronic items, etc. with internet and machine enabling data collection and transfer. It is the IoT, which is enabling real time communication, providing updates at the microlevel and initiating cyber physical systems, whereas Industry 4.0 is giving rise to smart cities and grid at the macro level.

3.Cybersecurity: Today, data storage and communication via long distance is possible, thanks to cybersecurity. Concepts such as Cloud and Mobility are catching pace due to cybersecurity provided by various platforms to help take strategic decisions on the go. An important pointer here is that with the advent of IoT, there is criss-crossing among many devices and communication channels that are connected with each other. It’s time now to take cyber security very seriously.

4.Cloud: Iot has made connectivity and the ability to support data generated possible on a real-time basis. Industry 4.0 takes Cloud as the base principle on which it seeks to have industrial monitoring and control systems moved to Cloud. Manufacturing Industry data when made accessible on Cloud helps inquicker detection of critical process faults and identifying leakages or discrepancies in any data.

5.Big data analytics: From transmissions to sensors and any kind of machines, these all generate huge volume of data. Now when there is a huge amount of data, how do businesses read or analyse these to be aware of any critical process or event like power out, internet breakdown, and transmission failure in important areas. From a manufacturing point of view,availability of the right data from all aspects of product development, production and testing from big data adds a new dimension to manufacturing enabling targeted innovation, marketing and decision-making. 6.Simulation: With technologies like 3D Printing, big data and Cloud computing gaining good traction, Virtual modelling of products is very much possibletoday. Simulation helpsin reducing wastage in terms of material, time, efforts and money spent. Industry 4.0 advocates contemporary automation to generate better results for manufacturing companies. Simulation also helps in rapid testing of products thus, paving way for innovation.

7.Additive manufacturing (3D printing): With Industry 4.0, 3D printing or additive manufacturing methods will be widely used not only for simulation, but also to produce small batches of customized products that offer construction advantages such as complex and lightweight designs.

8.Augmented reality: It is already a part of new-age marketing, which sees optimum interaction between human and machines. Google Oculus Rift and Microsoft Hololens are already playing big roles in helping companies improve their decision-making abilities and productivity by augmented reality. For manufacturing Industries, on – the – job training and broadcasting instructions have become easy and fast. Industry 4.0 seeks to use augmented reality to improve the functioning of a manufacturing company’s workforce.

9.Robots: Today, robots are used extensively in manufacturing and project engineering companies like an extended arm of the humanly workforce. Robots take the form of mechanical arms in plants and on assembly lines. With the advent of Industry 4.0, the contribution of robots would see a great surge and may even help inmanufacturing batches of units and ship them to the right addresses all by themselves.

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Industry 4.0 in Manufacturing Industry:

Digital

Big Data Analysis

LoT LoT

Cyber Security

3D Printing

Human Robot Interaction

Cloud

Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 digitalization is applicable to all horizons and businesses in the manufacturing industry. Digitalization helps in connecting all elements of workspace be it physical or digitally accessible to everyone, hence creating IoT. IoT as we know enables the elimination of laborious tasks and helps in innovation. Something like 3D printing of parts or a batch as a whole that was not possible before is now very much practical due to a new level of precision monitored by computers/AI. This new level of interaction between human and a bot has helped save a lot of monotonous and laborious work for the human staff and has encouraged innovation along with more user adoption of robots and computers for strategic and critical processes. There is a substantial amount of data created in everyday activities like making a call, transmitting electricity and most of this data is unreadable and flowing through transmitters, cables and/or numbers. Here, Big Data Analysis helps a manufacturingcompany to monitor and rapidly view data from all of their suppliers, customers and partners in a single window. If there is a critical process needs management’s attention to determine the part of plant that is not working, they can exactly locate the location and the reason of the failure and have a solution ready for deployment. This will result in minimal loss of resources besides streamlining the processes. Where there is huge amount of data and accessibility to such data seems to inevitable, data security comes into picture. Cybersecurity and data accessibility are a part of Big Data Analysis and make data accessibility less of a headache. This complete process together makes the company not only process oriented, but also an innovation-oriented organisation.

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Industry 4.0 for SMEs

Companies with more effective data GROW

Quality

Mobilty

Usabilty

35% Faster

Intelligence

It is true that data can help any company survive competition and sustain in these changing business ecosystem. Customer responses, the amount of time spent evaluating the products, what catches their attention, etc. data is everywhere and may or may not be in readable format. We need to make use of tools that can help SMEs convert all the crucial data into actionable data. With efficient business solutions that can make this data actionable, SMEs can grow 35% faster with Quality, Mobility, usability and Intelligence reporting. One may feel that it is only the bigger companies that would reap the benefits from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but the fact is that industry 4.0 has made it possible even for the SMEs to take advantage of this new revolution and gain benefits both tangible as well as intangible. Adopting Industry 4.0 principles such as Cyber Security, Cloud, IoT, Horizontal and Vertical Integration will enable SMEs to utilize Cloud, automation and data integration.

This would in turn help SMBs achieve: • 49% growth in cost efficiencies • 42% growth in mobile workforce (IoT) • 37% improvement in alignment with the partners (Horizontal and Vertical Integration) • 35% better access to data to help leverage insights • 32% new product development/innovation (big data analysis) • 30% more Development of new business models (Big Data) • 28% shift to global shared services model (Cloud) and • 28% increase in time to market

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How is Sage enabling Industry 4.0 for SMEs?

With powerful and dynamic enterprise management portfolios like Sage X3, Sage 300 and Sage CRM, Sage Software has been enabling SMEs to be on par with latest technologies and developments including Industry 4.0. Sage focuses on bringing the best to the SMEs. Let us take an example of how Sage Software is enabling Industry 4.0 for the SMEs.Mr. Suresh works as a salesperson with a product manufacturing company. The product requires demos to the customers to entice them to buy it. Mr. Suresh is equipped with a smartphone, which has a CRM app and thus, even when he is not in the office, he will be notified on his smartphone when a new lead is assigned to him. If he is travelling, he can immediately call and qualify the lead and not waste any additional time. Once qualified, he can update the CRM from his smartphone itself. The salesperson can also take down the lead’s requirements on a call and update the same in the CRM system. This will help the presales or the demo team to prepare / customize the product to the customer’s requirements so that connecting with him becomes easier. The presales team also need not always call up the salesperson to ask for requirements, since they can get the same from the CRM software where the salesperson has already updated the communication and all the required notes. Today, technologies like Webex are helping companies to not only conduct meeting, but also have product demos and training remotely. The Presales team can give demos online to the clients and can help them with the inventory update of the stock from their cell phones without the need to contacting the inventory or warehouse team. If the Client approves, they can also block the inventory from their cell phones and the inventory manager will be notified of the same.

The salesperson can calculate the product’s quote along with the customizations from the CRM App on his smartphone and generate a quote, which he can share with the client. After the client comes on board with the company, the implementation or the post-sales team can take over from there. The seamless and efficient data interaction between the sales team and the other departments internally can help in implementation team to know all the details of the client even if the salesperson is not available in order to avoid any delays in implementation. Automated follow-ups for clearing invoices can help the accounts team in averting heaps of load off their work. Further, the customer service team knows all details of the product and hence, they can service the clients better and answer to their queries much faster. Sage Software helps you do all these and much more including real time updates, mobility, and data security from its cutting-edge and holistic product suites.

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Conclusion:

Industry 4.0 is a revolution that is already in action and though this relates to the manufacturing industry, it is not only restricted to the manufacturing sector, as there are many other industries that are already feeling the rippling effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Embrace change is the only step to stride forward and to do so, you need to first evaluate your own business and find all its shortcomings. Questions like how the processes can be streamlined? Can there be innovation in not only the product, but also the processes? etc. need to be asked. It is only then that we will understand where we stand in the change that is Industry 4.0 and devise a plan to move ahead from there.

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