“Manufacturing companies can take some simple steps to help prepare their business for change and the fourth industrial revolution”. Image: DaveBleasdale, Learning Zone; flickr.com (CC BY 2.0)
This article was first published in the Spring 2015 issue of OnWindows.

In the last issue of OnWindows I outlined the technologies and thinking behind the fourth industrial revolution. The question still on the table is ‘what steps do manufacturers need to take to prepare for Industry 4.0?’ We know that manufacturing will be very different in 20 years’ time, but we also know that technologies, materials, IT and society are changing fast. So we will have to be prepared to be flexible, putting in place processes and technologies that are adaptable and will achieve a much faster return on investment.

“We will have to be prepared to be flexible, putting in place technologies that are adaptable and will achieve a much faster return on investment”.

To position your organisation for change, start with some basic actions:

  • Establish a team to study Industry 4.0
  • Get them to study what exactly it is and how it will impact your business
  • Encourage the team to attend events and ensure they meet regularly to brainstorm ideas
  • Control and direct current investments
  • Experiment with new technologies
  • Be willing to try out different strategies, even if that means risking losing money. The ones that succeed will be the ones prepared to try out new ideas.

When charting the progress we’ve made through each of the industrial revolutions, it’s clear to see that as we’ve progressed, so has the degree of complexity in the technology we rely on. Back in the late 1700s and early 1800s we learnt how to harness water and steam power to enable mechanical production. Nearly a century later, we developed assembly lines and started using electrical energy for mass production – the first powered assembly lines were used at scale in the Cincinnati slaughterhouses during the 1870s. More recently, we have developed IT systems to further automate production. And today, we’re starting to use cyber physical systems to create connected factories, devices and products.

Ultimately, barriers to implementation are around skills and security. To help overcome them, the Manufacturing Operations Management Institute is holding a series of global manufacturing executive workshops over the course of the next few months, including a session in Ansty in the UK on 16 April, one in the US in Detroit on 7 May, and another at the ATS Training Facilities in Singapore on 16 September.

For more information about these upcoming events and to find out more about what we will be discussing, please visit www.mom-institute.org. I hope you will be able to join us.

Mike James, ATS
by Mike James
Group Managing Director, ATS International B.V.

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