Next Production Revolution

Industry 4.0 and the New Industrial Revolution are current topics. We often talk about how the radical evolution dictated by the fourth industrial revolution has forever changed not only the activities that involve production, but above all the work approach of each industrial reality and its organization.

Let’s find out the meaning of the two terms and explore their philosophy together.

In Industry 4.0, we are faced with complete processes automation. This brings a reduction of human effort and focuses on the absolute controllability of the machinery, which becomes increasingly self-managing.

The philosophy of Industry 4.0, as stated during the last Industry / ICT G7, focuses on three fundamental themes: inclusion, openness and security.

About 70% of the Italian industrial fabric is represented by small and medium-sized enterprises; it is essential that they are fully included in this new innovative scenario and that they are accompanied, step by step, in the new digitization processes. The transition, already underway for some and on the doorstep for others, will be supported by the top management of the country, with the aim of undertaking targeted collaboration and cooperation between SMEs and large industrial giants.

We are all interconnected and with us, even our companies. Data travels in a continuous and unrestricted flow; the new systems based on artificial intelligence allow rapid sharing of information, thus implementing the well-being of the entire population.

This new method of data circulation, if on the one hand it brings an improvement in terms of interconnection of subjects, on the other it can be perceived as a risk. Cyber ​​security is an important issue and, for this reason, it must be monitored and ascertained at all times.

With the report“La Nuova Rivoluzione industriale: implicazioni per i governi e per le imprese”, composed by 12 chapters, OCSE highlights the positivity and criticalities that economic subjects will face during the change towards 4.0 and the New Industrial Revolution. Specifically, the document indicates the ways in which companies will be able to face the numerous changes that will affect the production sector, the role that the country’s leaders will assume, the implications of the so-called new enabling technologies and, consequently, the need to have a clear and transparent communication that clarifies and disseminates the related information.

In the context of Industry 4.0, new enabling technologies in digital systems such as 3D printing, robotics and new materials will develop. The production processes and, consequently, the approach that each production reality is taking towards them, have changed. They will affect economic, employment and income trends. There will also be consequences in the commercial, environmental and social spheres, changing the well-being conditions of the population.

Industry 4.0 and the New Industrial Revolution are concepts that contain, in their meaning and application, a forced transition but, not for this reason, a negative one. In fact, change must mostly be seen as a new stimulus, a possibility and an indispensable opportunity. Companies and, with them, the professional figures who work within them, have the opportunity to understand the new concepts, positively investing time and resources.

Each production reality will have to face the change in a positive way, following an approach based on achieving greater operational efficiency aimed at stimulating productivity, increasing its knowledge and acquiring new skills.

“Responding efficiently to the Industry 4.0 challenge means exploiting the enormous advantages expected for the production system in terms of flexibility, speed, productivity, quality and competitiveness” – from “La Next Production Revolution” by Lara Binotti.

It thus becomes implicit and necessary for companies to share their knowledge internally and externally. Only in this way, will they pursue the objective of information transparency and achieve a technical adaptation in the context of the new procedures. Education, training and industrial research work in synergy, co-creating a new know-how that will become the guide towards Industry 4.0 and the New Production Revolution.

Data is the starting point for following the change. Detected with extreme accuracy and precision, through the use of the IIoT, they are sorted and structured and then returned in terms of information that can be used directly by the various company interlocutors.

This is Data Driven Innovation, the interdependence and interconnection between the human factor and machinery, which, by co-operating, act to implement the digitization of production processes.

With the launch of Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing outlines its key components, summarized in data analysis, technologies and human ingenuity.

Only through the development of these 3 combined elements, it is possible to implement intelligent production in which the research and observation of data, carried out through the use of targeted technologies, allows the use of the same by companies. These already have a great know-how in terms of industrial research and development. These are undoubtedly ready to be shared.