industry 4.0 / smart Factories
Building an industry 4.0 toolkit that can actually deliver
By Martin Hurworth, CEO, Bytronic Vision Automation t
he words industry 4.0 are in danger of becoming little more than a cliche - overused in theory; underused in reality. in terms of improvements and upgrades,
industry 4.0 is undoubtedly a ‘game-changer’ for traditional manufacturing processes - especially ones that have been historically hard to modernise or where manual tasks still play a big role. so far, so cliched. But, how do we make this
revolution happen? With this question in mind, i attended the
World economic Forum’s (WeF) latest lighthouses live virtual event earlier this month to explore how this gap can be bridged. For background, the WeF’s global lighthouse
network is a group of ‘smart’ manufacturing sites. according to the WeF, these ‘beacons of innovation’ have discovered the ‘secret sauce’ of scaling tech-enabled operations and leading the fourth industrial revolution through a combination of growth, productivity, sustainability and workforce development. there are now 90 of these sites worldwide -
including many household names such as Bosch, ericsson, Procter & gamble, tata steel and more. they are dotted across continents, with more than 20 in china, half a dozen in germany, and multiple sites in Brazil, France, india, ireland and more. the uk is home to just two. glaxosmithkline
and Johnson & Johnson vision, in case you were wondering. two, out of thousands of possible factories judged by the WeF to possess the right balance of innovation, inspiration and investment. something is missing. how can we connect
what is possible with what is practical? how can we take all the things we can now measure, monitor and analyse from ai, automation and big data and make it realistic and affordable for your typical factory. the WeF sums it up as agility and workforce
development. to me, both of these are just part of the essential modern industry 4.0 toolkit, that we can all be adopting. agility allows these sites to ‘transform operations’ to maximise space for innovative
thinking, flexibility and adaptability. you could say they are just brave enough to fail. i am convinced these sites have overcome
the perils of ‘pilot purgatory’ through adopting the mvP - ‘minimum viable Production’ approach used so successfully by the tech industry. Fail Fast. iterate and innovate. traditional engineers and manufacturers
have a ‘zero failure’ mentality drilled into them from school. i did. this creates a fear of failure that can be hard to shift. innovations in digitalisation, the application
of big data, machine learning and real-time intelligence control technology were common themes mentioned by the speakers representing the latest group of lighthouses. all of these require a level of agility and bravery to conceive and integrate successfully . as for workforce development, the biggest
challenge for industry to overcome is knowledge and awareness, or lack thereof. if you are not a big company, how do you make time to find the solutions you need and keep ahead when the possibilities are changing so quickly? integrators
20 octoBer 2021 | Factory&handlingsolutions
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74
