Elias Aravantinos,[LION] Follow 37 2 3 Write an article

Industry 4.0, the evolution of smart

factories
Published on February 6, 2015

The Internet of Things is becoming prevalent in industry, where it connects real and
virtual worlds of production. The fusion of these two worlds via the Internet enables
manufacturers to connect machines, products, and systems involved in the production
process. This means that machines and products inter-communicate and they can
independently control each other.

Industry 4.0 initiative involves a high-tech strategy which promotes the computerization
of traditional industries and a shift from “centralized” to “decentralized” smart
manufacturing.

Industry 1.0 was the first industrial revolution, driven by wide implementation of steam
engines. Industry 2.0 incorporated mass production with use of the conveyor belt.
Industry 3.0 was enabled by electronics and IT, with automation of production using
computers, numerical control (NC), and programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
Industry 4.0, integrates cyber-physical production systems. Consumer input determines
how and when manufacturers produce their products. Information and communication
technology (ICT) and smart automation connect and enable the integration of embedded
production systems and processes, creating intelligent, object-oriented (OO)
networking, moving from centralized to decentralized models, and evolving into cyber-
physical design and simulation by using models and intelligent software. Manufacturing
needs to create information about production using customer data from the supply chain
to make smarter decisions.

Cases

Industry 4.0 technologies have been heavily deployed in Germany’s energy sector, with
smart grids allowing companies to shift from consumption-oriented generation to
generation-optimized consumption, making it possible to optimally manage fluctuating
renewable energy power generation and consumption. There have also been smart
factory applications in the auto industry, with companies like Bosch Auto Parts using
data, digitization, and the Internet to create a smoother production process.

Michelin is another example. Connectivity and smart devices enabled the tyre
manufacturer to completely shift its business based not on selling tyres, but providing
the mobility and safety of tyres as a service. With sensors and intelligence embedded in
the tyres, their performance is monitored with a network of support available to ensure
that problems can be addressed.

In most cases Mobile Network Operators and Service Providers such as Telstra,
Vodafone Group, are heavily involved providing proper solutions to connect manage
and monitor all these new SIM-enabled devices and equipment. Private cloud solutions,
M2M business solutions, Telemetry are a few services offered in a smarter way to
manage multiple business assets in the field.
Challenges

The data security is a big concern within Industry 4.0 to guarantee a safe production. In
some cases new internet standards need to be established with the Digital Industry 4.0.

There is a need to establish appropriate IT security mechanisms for the production

environment as part of new enterprise security plan; since all these universally
connected devices are sharing large amounts of data through the Internet or cloud-based
technology. That is likely to be the potential for a security breach: a hacker or intruder
could potentially paralyze a company’s logistics systems or get access to confidential
customer orders and share them with competitors. Being proactive and updating
security programs should ensure that data is secure protecting the weak spots.

Conclusion

Concluding, there is an opportunity for a developed European country to generate

growth of more than $50B in several sectors such as chemical engineering, automotive,
mechanical engineering, IT and communication, electrical engineering, and agriculture
—by 2025, and that the average additional gross value from this growth could be more
than 1.5 percent per year. Elias Aravantinos, Leading Analyst at ExelixisNet comments
“We continue to delve into this new opportunity and market for MNOs, and IoT, M2M
suppliers, For example, looking specifically at IoT in APAC during 2014, China
contributed almost 50% of the total IoT spending in Asia Pacifi​c, followed by Japan,
South Korea and Australia. The latter market is expecting to surpass $1B by 2017
boosted by new M2M and IoT solutions and platforms”.

Finally, more companies are expected to sell products as a service into this connected
world supported by a fully digital value chain. The intelligent, connected products
provide the information for new types of services, where data is harnessed to offer as-a-
service products. Developing the capabilities to support them will be the priority.

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2 Comments

Dong-Woo Kim 2y
Manufacturing, Automation and Industrial robots

How can we realize smart factory, is the solution of big-data could be a part of key factor??
Like Reply 1 Like

Andra-Maria METZ 1y
Social Media Consultant at NTT DATA Romania

Hello Elias, I really enjoyed your article. Would you know any scholar articles and sources that
talk about this subject?
Like Reply 1 Like
 Elias Aravantinos,[LION]
Technology Management and Marketing Expert

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