Industry 4.0 – The Next Industrial Era?

Industry 4.0 is a transformational journey during which technology merges physical and digital worlds throughout the manufacturer’s entire value chain – from the customer to R&D and the ecosystem of suppliers.

It can solve key challenges facing manufacturers – from extreme supply, demand, and design variability, to emerging markets of one, to the growing need for rapid innovation. Leveraging the principles of Industry 4.0 – and its enabling technologies to automate, integrate, and optimise manufacturing processes – companies can shorten cycle times, improve product quality, and implement efficiency across their operations, as well as grow the manufacturing of highly customised products on a global scale.

What makes all of this possible is the disrupting – and deepening – the relationships between manufacturing, customers, and suppliers. Industry 4.0 shifts manufacturing from isolated, optimised cells of business processes, systems, and resources to fully integrated data and product flows across corporate borders.

We’re already seeing examples of companies reaping the benefits of their journey, which is a testament to the fact that executives see its huge potential value.