What does Industry 4.0 mean for manufacturing?

September 20, 2021

Hemant Javeri

Traditional manufacturers can no longer delay digital transformation as we’re in the era of Industry 4.0 – the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The days of using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) applications for the management of operations, supply chains and assets are coming to an end.

Global supply chains require advanced real-time data to provide visibility at every stage — from inventory management to production. A recent example was seen during the global pandemic when many automobile manufacturers shut down plants because of a microchip shortage.

Data-driven technology, such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), can create a smart factory to prevent any parts shortages. Manufacturers are joining the Industry 4.0 revolution to gain several advantages including:

• Efficient and cost-effective resource allocation
• Reducing downtime by leveraging enhanced machine monitoring
• Real-time responsiveness for consumer demands and personalization

In the white paper, “Introducing the new era of Industry 4.0,” an overview is provided of how manufacturing is changing. It also provides insights into the implementation of IIoT at scale and how an integrated approach covering people, processes and technologies is critical.

Here are four key areas discussed in our manufacturing white paper.

1. Operational pillars required for an Industry 4.0 transformation
   Before embarking on a transformation journey, you need to take a hard look at business drivers, organizational change and technology transformation. By analyzing these three operational areas, a future-proof IIoT infrastructure can be designed with features such as continuous monitoring of factory floor equipment and machine learning predictions for processes.
2. Identifying use cases to enable Industry 4.0
   It is also important to identify use cases across all the steps in the value chain, from suppliers to customers. An integrated approach involves prioritizing use cases for piloting and planning a rollout across plant locations.
3. The journey to creating a connected factory solution
   The two main steps in building a connected factory involve firstly deciding which sensors and hardware to use for data collection within plant operations. The second stage involves developing a secure cloud landing zone that collects, analyzes and stores data.
4. Real-life smart factory transitions and how they did it
   The strategies for a successful IoT project can be seen in action in the case study of medical device company Cerapedics as it transitioned to a smart factory. The first stage of the project involved building a proof-of-concept IoT solution that connected digital and analog sensors, extracted data and sent it to the AWS cloud for analysis and display. Following this, an optimal data model was defined, and a data ingestion, enrichment and storage pipeline was built providing real-time and historical analysis that is scalable, cost-effective and resilient to outages.

To learn how you can leverage IIoT, cloud and new operating models to jumpstart your journey to a smart, connected factory, download the white paper, “Introducing the new era of Industry 4.0”.