There is a lot of talk about Industry 4.0 but what does it really mean?
History
Industry 4.0 is the cyber-physical transformation of manufacturing. The name is inspired by Germany’s Industrie 4.0, a government initiative to promote connected manufacturing and a digital convergence between industry, businesses and other processes. (TechTarget)
Wikipedia Definition
Industry 4.0 is a name given to the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing and cognitive computing. … Industry 4.0 fosters what has been called a “smart factory”. (Industry 4.0 – Wikipedia)
A Simple Definition
The above definitions are fine but do not really get to the essence of “What is Industry 4.0?”.
At its most fundamental level Industry 4.0 is:
- Obtaining real time data from a machine
- Adding context to that data to turn it into useful information
- Analysing that information (manual or automated)
- Using that analysis to make decisions (manual or automated)
Whether you gather data manually or collect it in an automated form, whether you use low cost wireless #IoT sensors or a traditional networked plc or sensor, whether you use XL or complex analytical models, artificial intelligence or machine learning, the fundamentals above are what makes it work.
Industry 4.0 / IIoT 