Digitization, Machines, Robots... What to Expect from Industrial Revolution 4.0?
Digitization is already reversing the way it is produced and sold. The Opportunity Window is open to all, and the threat is for many to stay behind.
Look around. The world around may seem motionless, inexorable. But it is not. With the slightest pressure in the right place, it can be overturned.
That's what Malcolm Gladwell claims in his notorious bestseller "Peace Point." It is hard to guess the exact moment in which fragmented events merge into an action in which evolution is turning into revolution. One thing is certain: when you look back, this moment is clearly visible. This is proof that we have not yet gone through the new industrial wave that will overturn the way everything works. But it is becoming clear that we are somewhere after its starting point.
The term "Industry 4.0" appeared 5-6 years ago in a strategy of the German government that wanted to prepare its own producers for the upcoming. Since 2013, Google's search terms have grown in geometric progression. On the one hand, because nobody knows exactly what the term includes. Behind it lies the sum of progress in areas such as automation, computer science, artificial intelligence, the Internet, data collection, even genetics and biology. Simply put, if the first revolution was based on steam and mechanization, the second of electricity, the third of computers, is based on transforming the world into a mixture of digital and physical.
The robot-operated factory; The 3D printer that makes your running shoes custom; the machine that can repair it itself; devices that return data to their makers to improve their processes; decentralized knowledge in every field - from medicines to batteries: all of this is part of the change that we are experiencing.
In the eye of a revolution
One reason for everyone to look forward to the new industrial wave is that traditional methods of lifting productivity are already exhausted. The previous revolution of the 1970s and 1980s brought computer models and methods for more efficient production. The 1990s brought the offshore gaining areas and new wage areas that pushed the outsourcing industry. The reverse process is now under way: Banergy says, over the next ten years, 40% of the current logistics chains that carry goods from distant locations to developed markets will be affected.
Returning production close to consumers and development centers is a process that is already running in Europe. Part of this process is due to rising salaries, but part of it is due to 3D printing and robotics, which make it much easier, cheaper and faster to produce, even with personalization elements. Adidas this year has returned one of its factories from Vietnam to Germany to make custom-made shoes, all through 3D printing and virtual twin machines. Such plants will become more and more common as they fit easily into urban environments, close to consumers, and offer product personalization, say McKinsey Digital consultants.
The other major change is data collection. Like many other technologies that will change the industrial landscape, it has started years ago in the consumer world, but is increasingly moving into business. Today, every device follows us. If your phone records where you are going, how much and for how long (and what it is), it gives car makers new valuable data. If your fridge records every product opening and removing, the manufacturer will know how to optimize its performance and even offer you a customized appliance.
The shores of the new world
This will do two things: it opens up new niche markets where there was only one business model so far and creates new threats. Full automation will allow you to reduce the time you lost, to quickly detect a problem in the factory and even to solve it remotely and leave people out of work. Digitalizing more and more parts of the industry will allow new companies to enter the market and offer innovative solutions and at the same time increase the threat to cybersecurity
Let's start with the possibilities. Manufacturers now have much more niche to derive value from: as automation allows for much better forecasting, there are companies that rent out their equipment while it is unused, via digital platforms with prepaid models. Intellectual and data analysis is a growing source of revenue. If companies have so far used a limited number of internal people for their development, they now have the opportunity to consult thousands, even millions, and choose the best solution for free. Blockeys and drones are two technologies that will still be very positive. Apart from the ability to customize products, their marketing can also be highly personal thanks to the social networks and other data for each person.
Digital makes production easier too. Thanks to digital twin machines, factories can now be made into virtual reality, optimized by software, and then built in real life. With the development of technologies such as automated information exchange between machines (M2M communications) and artificial intelligence in the near future, robots themselves will be able to determine how best to produce a product. This means the presence of self-learning factories. Where the robots will not replace people, technology helps: Knapp AG, for example, has developed a technology that allows logistics companies to train much faster in warehouses - glasses that have built-in sensors to indicate where everything is in the warehouse and what requirements there are.
The European Commission believes that the revolution will increase EU GDP by € 110 billion a year over the next five years, will help 2 million businesses with 33 million workers and will account for 60% of the growth of the European economy.
Industrial revolutions do not move from countries, but from people and companies. But while the latter struggle to stay above the water, there is one thing the first can do: try to give the best possible start to everyone. The window for this will not remain open for long. The revolution has already begun and only those ready for it will win.