INDUSTRY 4.0/SMART FACTORIES
THE NEXT REVOLUTION: INDUSTRY 5.0 By Mark Hughes, VP UK&I, Epicor
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t may seem like only yesterday that industry commentators were discussing the arrival of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), or ‘Industry 4.0’ and so it might come as a surprise to then hear that the fifth IR is on the horizon. But, already, there are signs of a transition from Industry 4.0 to 5.0, with a select few companies lighting the way forward.
Only a decade ago, few would have imagined the magnitude of the change taking place on today’s factory floors. Smart technologies and robotics are now ubiquitous in manufacturing plants. Look at the National Composites Centre for example, where 3D printers can construct two-story homes using durable, sustainable materials. Ten years ago, we were printing pamphlets — now we’re printing buildings.
Klaus Schwab, executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) highlighted that technologies are being implemented and iterated upon simultaneously, resulting in new breakthroughs happening faster than they can be applied. “It’s the fusion of these technologies and their interaction across the physical, digital, and biological domains that make the fourth industrial revolution fundamentally different from previous revolutions.”
The way that we approach manufacturing, distribution, and innovation has been transformed by 4IR through the interconnectivity enabled by the internet of things (IoT), real-time data analytics and automation. In fact, research from WEF and McKinsey predicts that 4IR-enabling technologies will create up to $3.7 trillion in value over the next four years — however some businesses lag behind others in the adoption of these technologies.
The research also discovered that less than a third of manufacturers are actively implementing the latest solutions at any significant scale. This phenomenon has been dubbed ‘pilot purgatory’ — a stagnant, permanent trial phase that some companies can idle in as a result of their inability to invest in scaling up.
So how can we claim to be on the cusp of 5IR? It’s thanks to the few, maverick early adopters who have embraced 4IR tech so wholeheartedly that they’re pushing society and business forward to the next phase.
FROM AUTOMATION TO AUTONOMY Generally speaking, automation comes in three increasingly complex forms: • Robotic process automation (RPA) – the most familiar, in which simple repetitive tasks are automated. Think light administration tasks. • Enhanced process automation (EPA) – the mid-level, soft artificial intelligence (AI) that might interpret text and other information using tech such as natural language processing (NLP).
• Cognitive or autonomic automation (AA) – the cutting edge. An attempt to replicate the thought process of a human using machine learning technologies.
Automation has become standard among many manufacturers over the last decade as the benefits become clear. Companies like Merck and GE for example have employed RPA in their back-offices to lighten the administrative load. In the near future, RPA will move from the back-office to factory floors and we’ll see IoT-enabled machines identifying and performing predictive maintenance on the fly.
Members of the general public might encounter the top two tiers of automation in some retailers already. For example, The North Face uses AI courtesy of IBM’s Watson to enhance its customer experience. Customers can communicate with Watson via their smartphones, which will attempt to assist them with their shopping, allowing them to find items more quickly or even make personalised suggestions.
More commonly, automation is happening behind the scenes, especially in 20 MARCH 2021 | FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS THE FUTURE IN PRINT
As consumers expect even greater levels of personalisation, retailers are continuing to innovate. 3D printing technology is allowing retailers to invest in creating products with raw materials on-site. This amounts to a dramatically shorter supply chain, reducing waste through small batch production. A perfect example is the AlphaEDGE 4D, a 3D printed trainer from Adidas. It’s taken some time for 3D printing to shake off its image as a novelty and be taken seriously as a business application, but clearly it now has. During the pandemic, HP Inc. and partners used 3D printing to produce parts for face-shields and hand-free door openers, demonstrating the viability of the technology in mass manufacturing.
BEYOND SCIENCE FICTION
Elements of 4IR were once only the province of science fiction. Now, developments like nanotechnology and gene editing are going mainstream. Nanosensors make IoT technology possible and CRISPR gene-editing technology is beginning to change the food industry.
Grocery retailers are preparing for how gene-editing might dramatically slow the rate of spoilage in crops and therefore affect their entire supply chains, from farm to table. Not only will this change the way food is delivered, it will change the way that consumers purchase it, as use-by dates become increasingly distant.
Nanosensors too, are altering supply chains, as they’re incorporated into packaging during distribution — providing pinpoint accuracy on product origin. Additionally, new uses for nanotech are being discovered constantly — from improving adhesives to creating stain-proof furniture. Components such as carbon nanotubes are allowing for stronger and more flexible materials, including the textile industry, where they’re being used to craft wrinkle-free fabrics.
THE NEXT REVOLUTION
The increasingly complex interactions between people, processes, and technology are changing the way manufacturing operates. The impacts of Covid-19 accelerated this change, forcing decades-old systems to recalibrate in a matter of weeks, with experimentation becoming the rule rather than exception.
Businesses have deployed augmented technology (AR) and virtual reality (VR) for the first time, pivoted their robotics from factory floors to front-line services and transformed entire production lines to print face masks. The future will undoubtedly be influenced by the collective experience of the last year, and may go a long way in colouring what 5IR looks like. Whole supply chains might be touchless and contactless from the factory to the shopfloor, built on a foundation of nanosensors feeding information to a cloud-based AI.
Products that are made to order and printed in-store could be delivered autonomously by familiar road vehicles or the next generation of drones. It may be that the changes will be so utterly seamless, we hardly notice. But I expect that if we take a minute to look up and around, we might be shocked by how far industry has come already.
Epicor
www.epicor.com
warehouse environments. One of the biggest ecommerce retailers in China can reportedly process 20,000 packages an hour in its automated warehouses. Closer to home, JD Sports streamlines its distribution process with robotic barcode scanning, loading and unloading systems and delivery by drone and automated vans.
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