Description of Industrial 4.

0 revolution:
The industrial 4.0 revolution, also known as “fourth industrial revolution”, internet of things,
internet of everything, or industrial internet is another step ahead which will change
entirely the way of working and operational management techniques in various industries. It
will create connected systems (cyber physical systems) in the manufacturing industry using
Internet-based protocols to detect the failure, analyse the data, predict the future and make
the processes more efficient. (Philipp et al., 2015).
Revolution in 3 key components of operation management in manufacturing industry
Product:
In 1784, towards the end of 18th century, the first industrial revolution came when
production facilities in manufacturing industry was provided with the help of steam and
water.
When electrical energy came into use, this time brought second industrial revolution in the
manufacturing industry as this sector started to use the technology to produce the goods in
bulk at low price. First assembly line was also introduced in 1870.
In the beginnings of 1970s, IT and electronics became common which further automated
the manufacturing systems. In 1969, first programmable logical control system was also
introduced.
In short, the world has always been trying its best to achieve growth by producing more and
more through the most efficient means i.e. by reducing waste, producing in bulk such that it
fulfils the needs of all by keeping the cost low.
And now the world is moving towards the more complex technology, the Internet of things,
to make the tasks simpler. This revolution aims to merge the real and the virtual worlds on
the basis of Cyber-Physical Production System (CPPS). Many new revolutionary technologies
are entering the manufacturing space, aiming to boost productivity by more than a third,
focusing on reducing cost while achieving the mass customization, achieving six sigma and
hence, attaining the growth in the entire industry.
Example: As per strategy designed to bring industrial 4.0 revolution, one of the most
significant technology introduced in manufacturing sector are the robots, which are of the
size of the humans, and are programmed to carry out complex and non-repetitive tasks.
Still, our manufacturing industries are complex, do repetitive tasks as they are just 8%
automated. But Industrial 4.0 revolution aims to raise this percentage to 20% in the next 10
years, which means that we will be able to produce 20% more output and achieve 20%
more growth. The robots have started to work for us right now, for example, in 2015,
Amazon used robots to prepare and ship goods to Cyber Monday. (Scalabre, O., Sep 13,
2016).
Process:
The layout of the factories will change from being huge and massive to small and agile. The
production will be focused on being more flexible than scalable. Factories will be focusing
on operating on the multiproduct on made to order basis. The processes will be monitored
side by side, detecting any error that will arise and quick steps to overcome the defects will
be taken. The manufacturers will identify the life of the products and present to different
interfaces in order to monitor the operations. Everything will be controlled by a single CPU
or single intelligence. And as a result, the cost of manufacturing will be lowered significantly
and the percentage of uncertainty will also be reduced.
Example: Manufacturing has also been changed with the introduction of additive
manufacturing, or the 3D printing, which has improved the production techniques of plastic
manufacturing and is now bringing a revolution in metal. For example, in aerospace
industry, fuel nozzles which are made up of twenty different parts that have to be
separately produced and painstakingly assembles, but now 3D printing is allowing aerospace
industry to turn those twenty different parts into just one, thus achieving 40% more growth
in the industry. (Scalabre, O., Sep 13, 2016).

Supply chain:
Our factories will be relocated into the home market, achieving the consumer proximity.
The trade flows which are now made from East to West, will be replaced by regional trade
flows. More transparency between supplier and the customer needs will be attained.
Number of suppliers will be decreased and hence the cost of supply chain management. The
raw materials and production will be interconnected wirelessly with each other, and thus
increasing reliability and efficiency in production process.
Example: A bottling plan for liquid at Siemens in the industry 4.0 is that each bottle will have
an RFID chip in it which will have all the information about the way it needs to be processed
i.e. description that which liquid, lid and label will be used. The bottle will communicate
with the machine itself, telling how it needs to be processed. And at the end, the computer
will check whether the bottle has been produced as required. (Industry 4.0- The Fourth
Industrial revolution, Dec 5, 2013)
Issues related to industrial 4.0 revolution in manufacturing industry:
Following are some of the issues which are obstacles in the way of introduction of industry4.0
revolution in the world:

 Guaranteeing that different systems will communicate with each other

 Training people about the way to work in the industry 4.0 is required on an extensive level
 The question of protecting the intellectual property is concerning the manufacturing
industries
 Managing the production data which will be large in quantity and coordinating the results
with the customer information system
 All the systems in business i.e. R&D, manufacturing, process, supply chain, logistics, finance,
human resource etc. needs to be integrated in this network
 Issue of unemployment as the technology will replace humans. New skills will be required to
fulfil the needs of IoT. (Industry 4.0 Challenges and solutions for digital transformation and
use of exponential technologies, October 24, 2014)
Reference:

Gerbert, P., Lorenz, M., Rubmann, M., Waldner, M., Justus, J., Engel, P., and Harnisch, M. (April 9,
2015). Industry 4.0: The Future of Productivity and Growth in Manufacturing industry. The Boston
Consulting Group, (online) p. 1. Available at:
https://www.bcg.com/publications/2015/engineered_products_project_business_industry_4_futur
e_productivity_growth_manufacturing_industries.aspx (Assessed March 12, 2018)

Deloitte. (October24, 2014). Industry 4.0 Challenges and solutions for digital transformation and use
of exponential technologies. (Research) p. 32. (Assessed March 11, 2018)

Siemens. (Dec 5, 2013). Industry 4.0- The Fourth Industrial Revolution. (Video). Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPRURtORnis (Assessed March 9, 2018)

Scalabre, O. (Sep 13, 2016). The next manufacturing revolution is here. (Video). Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyWtIwwEgS0 (Assessed March 9, 2018)