Industry 4.0 isn’t just glamorous tech talk – it’s the Fourth Industrial Revolution – and it’s just as essential as the original shift from animal-powered labour to steam power. Here’s how its making manufacturers lean, efficient, productivity machines that not only meet market needs but also identify and react with agility to market changes.
What benefits are we talking about here?
- Next-level efficiency – By using evidence-based data from machinery, your ecosystem, and the trading environment to drive faster decision-making, AI and IoT technologies provide you with the data you need to know your options right now – and implement them to. It also detects assembly line and production line issues before they occur, making maintenance proactive and reducing downtime.
- Supply chain agility – Manufacturing has to run a very tight ship, as every product created but not needed or less optimised for the customer is waste. With an interconnected supply chain running on real time data analysis, you can read demand and adjust accommodate them. Some of these can even run automatically, with alerts sent up the chain causing production lines to apply changes automatically to production settings and manufacturing requirements.
- Optimisation of assets – Enable your teams to recreate portions of your value chain or your entire operation utilising real time data and digital twin technology. Now you can test optimisation strategies, run scenarios, develop, and test products and production techniques – all to optimise them before putting them into action. This is key to the continuous improvement model shaping global manufacturing leaders.
- Bring down waste to a minimum – Cut costs and max out profits without compromising on quality or service through smart waste reduction. From automation and standardisation to full visibility into asset operation, waiting times, defects, excessive movement, overprocessing, and overproduction are all cut away. This is great for your teams, alleviating routine processes and workflows through automation, shifting valuable resources to human-centred operations in your business.
Industry 4.0 is not about replacing people with machines. It’s not even about replacing them with automation or other software solutions. It’s about using smart technology to relieve the challenges employees and businesses are facing by making lean manufacturing deliver more than ever before.
Donkeys get tired, steam runs out – but digitisation never quits
Every era of industrial revolution has brought challenges and rewards, but those that reap the highest benefit are forward-thinkers who make the right partnerships needed to get ahead.
You don’t have to be an expert in digitisation – that’s our job. With your manufacturing expertise and vision alongside our technology and support processes, we’ll bring Industry 4.0 to your organisation. Get ready for a lean, high-performance evolution your customers and employees will love.
Jordan is the Chief Commercial Officer at Otto. Jordan is here to help clients remove roadblocks and achieve the business goals they’ve set out. Jordan’s biggest focus is Customer Experience, Business Relationship Management, Risk Management and Strategy.
