Industry 4.0 – From Data to Information

Industry 4.0 is emerging fast and becoming more and more mainstream, there are many businesses who are making changes and adopting Industrial IoT for their better future. At the very core, Industry 4.0 includes the transfer of autonomy and autonomous decisions to cyber-physical systems and machines that holding information systems.

From industrial technological facts such as the IoT (Internet of Things), robotics, additive manufacturing, digital twins and augmented reality to the development of new innovative services within an ecosystem approach: its data, data and analytics everywhere.
This seems a little unbalanced when you consider the volume that data possesses today, to ignore this ; data is the new lubricant that will power the economy through the 21st century.

So, interpreting and leveraging this technology now we will see the transformation from previous information revolutions, to this fourth industrial revolution.

Historical Industrial Revolutions

Industry 4.0 introduces to the Fourth industrial revolution. The term was originated in 2011 and was used to present the performance that cyber-physical systems (CPS), cloud computing and IIoT (industrial internet of things) will have on manufacturing processes.
Looking at each revolution in turn, we can see how things have developed forwards formerly;

• 1st Industrial Revolution – Steam and water power are utilized to automate production.
• 2nd Industrial Revolution – Electricity empowers for mass production with assembly lines.
• 3rd Industrial Revolution – IT and Computer technology are employed to automate processes.
• 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) –Improving automation and connectivity.

Data and Optimization Over the Value Chain: Its Benefits and IT, OT and Cyber-Physical Systems in ‘Smart Anything’

The cyber-physical systems are the basis and allow new facilities in various areas such as product design, prototyping and development, remote control, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, track systems health monitoring, planning, innovation capability, agility, real-time applications and more.

The new techniques of Industry 4.0 lead to the ‘smart anything’ phenomena which often get most attention: from the smart grid, smart energy and smart logistics to smart facilities, involving smart buildings and smart plants and smart services to the smart manufacturing, smart factories, smart cities and so on.

Integrations in Industry 4.0: Vertical and Horizontal Integration

Vertical integration in Industry 4.0 features to bind together all logical layers within the organization from the production floor layer up through R&D, product management, quality assurance, IT and so on. Data flows freely and transparently up and down through these layers so that both strategic and smart decisions can be made based on this data-driven.

The vertically integrated Industry 4.0 enterprise acquires a critical competitive edge by being able to react suitably and with readiness to changing market signals and new opportunities.

The other one is horizontal integration which is not about the hierarchical view of various systems as in vertical integration but about the stated end-to-end value chain: from supplier and processes. Information flows from IT systems in the product development and production stage to logistics and distribution.

When it comes to horizontal integration, Industry 4.0 visualizes connected networks of cyber-physical and enterprise systems that initiate various levels of automation, flexibility and operational efficiency into production processes. This horizontal integration takes place at various levels:

• On the production floor

Always-connected machines and production combines together to become an object with explicit properties within the production network. They continuously communicate their performance status and respond together autonomously to the dynamic production requirements. The main goal is that to reduce costly downtime through predictive maintenance.

• Across multiple production facilities

If an organization has distributed production facilities, Industry 4.0 develops horizontal integration across plant-level Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). In this situation, production facility data (inventory levels, unexpected delays and so on) are shared seamlessly across the whole enterprise and where possible, production tasks are moved automatically among facilities in order to respond rapidly and efficiently to production variables.

• Across the whole supply chain

Industry 4.0 prefers data transparency and high levels of automated network across the upstream supply and logistics chain that supplying the production processes themselves as well as the downstream chain which prefers the finished products to market. 

From Industry 3.0 to 4.0

The third industrial revolution or Industry 3.0, also known as digital revolution, appeared in the late 20th Century with the advancement in digital development and automated processes. It means that in the production process there was great use of computer and communication technologies and less human interference, however there was still a human aspect behind it.

Now the future of Industry 4.0 extends and grows, everything will be connected and communicate with each other to help to make better and quicker decisions without any human involvement. For manufacturers it means that machines are getting smarter and quick access to more important information, they will be able to handle their production process much more effectively and increase the production.

This is the realization of the smart factory concept. With machines that are highly interrelated via the internet and are part of a real-time ecosystem that can visualize and optimize the complete supply chain.

In Industry 3.0, we regulate processes using logic processors and information technology. Where Industry 4.0 comes with availability and usage of huge quantity of data on the production floor.

For example, In Industry 3.0, CNC machine are largely automated, but it is still requires input from a human. The process is automated depends on human input, not by data. In Industry 4.0, CNC machine not only able to follow set programming parameters but also able to utilize data to streamline production processes.

One of the classic challenges as we know it in most information management and data environments: silos.

In Industry 4.0 and industrial data these silos range from ERP (enterprise resource planning) and industrial control systems to traditional documents.

Silo concerns indeed requires to be resolved by people, who understand the gaps, can develop a strategy, interpret the processes that are able to solve the silo issues, bring it in the right systems and put you on the way to journey and vision which is called Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 – Embrace it as a New Approach

If you look at Industry 4.0, not as a new technology, but instead – as a new perspective to achieving results that were not possible 10 years ago, then the transformation doesn’t look so challenging.

It’s a matter of proceeds your current business models and processes and modifying them with a bit of innovation.

So, whether you are looking at lowering operating costs, enhancing productivity or looking to grow into new markets, first you required to focus on what you want to achieve.

It is not about maintaining your whole operations to take benefits of digital technology; it’s more about the small steps you can take to start with.

In terms of maintenance, Industry 4.0 means lots of data that can be collected through sensors and used to make decisions about repairs and maintenance. Predictive maintenance systems are even rise to apply machine learning to decide when asset failure may happen and formulate preventive measures.

Now, this doesn’t mean that data was not collected before. The difference is just the absolute volume of data available and the new methods we have for handling it all.

IIoT with CPS and cloud-based processes allow us to collect and understand data in ways that weren’t possible before and the effect of those technologies is being detected in every side of manufacturing from production to maintenance to marketing and even then on to the final products we create.

To be a trite segment, Industry 4.0 is the way of the future!!