Industry 4.0 is driving transformative cyber-physical technologies to create the future state of manufacturing known as smart factories. These transformative technologies include Cyber Security, Internet of Things, Additive Manufacturing, Artifical Intelligence, Autonomy, Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Simulation, and Augmented Reality.
Cyber Security bridges the gap between IT and Operations while mitigating the risk of increased connectivity. Creating an integrated strategic approach is fundamental in a manufacturing environment that joins Information Technology with processes and equipment.
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Internet of Things - Interconnecting the objects that can monitor and interact with each other to share data and optimize operations.
Additive Manufacturing such as 3D printing supports manufacturing while reducing times to market and competitive agility.
Artificial Intelligence helps manufacturers to handle the increasing demands of products by consumers and change the way firms produce, distribute and market products. For example, AI and robots are to direct automation by engaging in repeated activities, design models of productions, increase competence, develop automation solutions, eliminate human error and provide higher quality assurance levels. Ai ensures 24/7 production that meets the high customer demands globally, offers a safe operational environment by replacing humans to perform risky functions, gives humans novel opportunities to focus on enhancing innovation and routing companies to advanced levels, and condenses operating expenses. AI enables machines to collect and extract information, understand patterns, learn and acclimatize to new settings or things using machine intelligence, learning and speech recognition (Plant Automation, n.d.).
Autonomy in the manufacturing sector contributes to job creation, enhances security and safety, and saves production process time. The adoption of mobile robots in factories leads to an increased demand for expert technicians who can interface with the robots. The implementation of mobile robots also enhances efficiency for manufacturers and speed up time for production. Mobile robots that can move in any direction while controlling their rotation can be used collaboratively as a security mechanism to monitor the floor of the factory during off hours. Autonomous factories also improve safety and prevent accidents caused by human error (Data Speed, 2017).
Big Data Analytics in the manufacturing sector is used to predict future events and expect needs. Thus, big data analytics acts as the manufacturers’ entrance into the future. Besides, predictive analytics helps manufacturers by turning the gathered data from different sources into a plan for future engagements. Predictive analytics helps manufacturers plan staffs accordingly, hire required staff and allow sufficient team training time based on reliable forecasts of product sales. Procurement department can apply accurate predictive forecasts to organize improved just-in-time inventory amounts of raw resources, which prevents interruptions caused by stock-outs. Big data analytics offers a precise understanding of product lifecycles, which can be translated into improved preparation for required maintenance. Big data analytics also helps manufacturers identify, analyze, and enhance growth opportunities by assisting factories to determine new locations to target, improve product lifecycle, tap into customer base and expand into micro/niche markets (Infor, n.d.).
Cloud Computing helps manufacturers innovate, increase their competitiveness and decrease expenses. Cloud computing also enables manufacturers to apply other types of new production schemes such as industrial robots, internet of things, high-performance computing and 3D printing. Besides, cloud computing allows even small manufacturers to use and access these technologies openly without prejudice, offers real-world examples of this mechanism in action and suggests actions that policymakers can take to improve cloud computing and continue to change manufacturing and bolster manufacturing competitiveness (American Enterprise Institute, n.d.).
Simulation assists manufacturers to account for the behavior of single tasks and resources, which allow them to precisely represent and compute things that will happen in a manufacturing system over time. Manufacturers today use simulation to thoroughly evaluate the effect of their process improvement ideas and new system configuration in a risk-free setting. The simulation also offers a visual and virtual sandbox to experiment with different scenarios without interfering with the existing ability of manufacturing functions (Simul8, n.d).
Augmented Reality helps manufacturers with the assembly of manufactured goods by projecting assemble data on a heads-up display and in the maintenance of manufacturing tools through error detection, allows experts to provide support and engage in inspection by enabling them to see through the eyes of technicians who are doing the real maintenance, and allow quality assurance experts take pictures of assemblies or parts on equipment under inspection, and compare the photos with those offered by suppliers to identify issues fast and intuitively (Code_n, 2017).
In summary, Industry 4.0 streamlines the production process to increase efficiency, reduces cost, and improves quality.
References
American Enterprise Institute. (n.d.). How Cloud Computing Enables Modern Manufacturing | ITIF . Retrieved April 9, 2018, from http://www2.itif.org/2017-cloud-computing-enables- manufacturing.pdf
Code_n. (2017, October 23). Applications of augmented reality: What are the potentials for the manufacturing industry? Retrieved April 09, 2018, from https://www.code- n.org/blog/applications-augmented-reality-potentials-manufacturing-industry-ar/
Data Speed. (2017, February 23). The Future of Autonomy | What Autonomy Means For Your Industry. Retrieved April 09, 2018, from http://dataspeedinc.com/future-autonomy-looks- like-industry/
Infor. (n.d.). Big Data in manufacturing: A compass for growth. Retrieved April 9, 2018, from https://www.infor.com/content/industry-perspectives/big-data-in-manufacturing.pdf/
Plant Automation. (n.d.). The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing Industries. Retrieved April 9, 2018, from https://www.plantautomation-technology.com/articles/the- future-of-artificial-intelligence-in-manufacturing-industries
Simul8. (n.d.). Implementing the future of manufacturing using simulation. Retrieved April 9, 2018, from https://www.simul8.com/resources/implementing-the-future-of- manufacturing-with-simulation.pdf
