Embracing New Technology which was once a daunting task for the manufacturing Industry, has now become the need of the Hour. Industry 4.0 has helped bring automation to every phase from Procurement, Processing, Distribution of Raw Material to the Final Products. In this era of digital reform, companies have begun anticipating changes, approaching emerging technologies such as Intelligent Robots, Drones, Sensors, Actuators, Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and 3D Printing to carve a niche in the competitive market space.
Based on IDC data, the manufacturing sector was the biggest IoT investor in the IoT spending chart in 2017 and the trend is going to continue in 2020.
Before highlighting the reasons why companies are embarking on Industry 4.0, let’s first understand what it holds exactly:
There is no denying the fact that Industry 4.0 has been a gamechanger in the Manufacturing Industry. Since Productivity is a Vital Component to keep turnover high across all manufacturing entities, be it Textile or Mining, it is imperative to put the pedal to the metal and steer Innovation-led growth. Highlighting the Vision of the Interconnected Factory, wherein equipment(s) is smart, data-driven, Intelligent and capable of thinking, Industry 4.0 is driving transformation in manufacturing firms.
Industry 4.0 connotes the next phase in the digitization of manufacturing industry, which is driven by four major disruptions-
- Exponential rise in the Data Volumes, Computational Power & Connectivity, New Low-Power Wide-Area Networks
- Widespread emergence of Data Analytics and Business Intelligence
- Newfangled Human-Machine interactions such as Touch Interfaces and Augmented Reality Systems
- Enhancements in transferring digital instructions to the external world, for example, Advanced Robotics and 3-D Printing
Source: McKinsey
Why Industry 4.0 Matters
A gamut of possibilities recognized through connected devices, platforms and solutions in manufacturing have made it imperative for companies to quickly digitize their processes and operations and take a shift from the old legacy ecosystem to a digital one. In the current times, manufacturing is evolving from a mass production to a mass-customized form of an industry. This dramatic change not only ensures that the right product is delivered to the right mass for the right price, it also adds a new level of sophistication in the process of how the product is designed and delivered.
Here’s how Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing Manufacturing
Improved Product Quality: Undoubtedly, quality of a product is directly proportional to manufacturing processes as the way raw materials are being used, inspected, manufactured, and integrated. Herein, Artificial Intelligence allows manufacturers to diagnose quality issues more efficiently. Also, it helps in improving the production process as well as saving on service and warranty cost payouts by reducing defect rates.
Detailed Insights in Real Time, Increased Productivity:
Sensor-equipped devices, networks and software across multiple operations effortlessly allow manufacturers to track information in real-time. From making data available in various forms for Measurement & Analysis, to helping Machine to Machine (M2M) Interaction, Maintaining Reports and Predictive and real-time handling of Safety & Performance issues with Equipment, the applications of Industry 4.0 are diverse. In Summary, it helps enhance Business Decision-making capability & enables predictive maintenance of Machinery, all-in-all saving time & cost.
Key Fact
Considering Industry 4.0 applied to Manufacturing Processes & Operations – GE estimates that 1% growth in Productivity implies $500million in savings annually. When measured at an international scale, this 1% improvement implies an addition of $10 to $15 trillion contribution to the global GDP in the next 15 years.
Product Asset and Management:
Right from assessing quality and performance to predicting faults and breakdowns, intelligent devices packed with Enterprise-grade sensors can do predictive maintenance. They can also accumulate product-related data based on some vital parameters like knowing customer behavior patterns, potential market trends and so on. Intelligent Robotics/Machinery also helps to keep track on inventories and maintains a steady flow through the entire value chain, right up to the customer level. Moreover, Smart Machines integrated with ML-enabled forklifts, Storage shelves can act autonomously by communicating with each other to do multiple things from material replenishment to triggering manufacturing.
Conclusion
In-line with this gigantic revolution taking place in the manufacturing industry – implementing smarter resource & supply chain optimization strategies not only optimizes energy consumption and resource efficiency but also strengthens safety. KritiKal Solutions, a pioneer in product engineering domain, builds industrial solutions– hardware equipment, devices, software–to boost productivity in a holistic way.
Our innovative solutions involve the following functions:
- Asset Health Management
- Asset Usage
- Predictive/ Preventive Maintenance
- Fault Triggers
- Breakdown Assistance
- Refurbishing / Re-engineering
- Retrofitting to enhance capability
- Automation in Quality Inspection using OCR
If flexible manufacturing processes sound good to you – to better react to customer needs, then adopting Industry 4.0 led Technologies can be a prudent step to give your business a clear edge to stay competitive.
