Industry 4.0 is a new era in the manufacturing industry. It’s characterized by extensive digitalization. Before this fourth major change in modern manufacturing, there was the lean revolution in the 1970s, the outsourcing trend in the 1990s, as well as the automation boom that started in the 2000s. In this article, you will learn about the evolution of Industry 4.0 and IoT in manufacturing examples.

Evolution of Industry 4.0

Industrial IoT is a subset of IoT, so, its main goal is to focus on connected manufacturing operations that allow for the development of products and services.

Industrial IoT has incredible potential to transform manufacturing. 91% of respondents to a survey see benefits for manufacturing in IoT.

Even though it is still early, the commitment of manufacturers to digital transformation is strong. Aberdeen Group’s preliminary findings showed that 35% of companies plan to undergo digital transformation.

As a result, the Internet of Things is an essential component of digital transformation. It is poised to revolutionize the manufacturing value chain through unprecedented levels of connectivity and functionality.

This change is for consumers in the form of small, high-connected devices (smartphones tablets, GPS devices, GPS devices, etc.). Therefore, sophisticated electronics embedded within our transport means living spaces and workplaces.

The need of IoT in manufacturing also gives manufacturing companies new opportunities to innovate and create.

Respondents to the survey are keen to “operationalize” the Industrial IoT benefits. They see the cost benefits of IIoT but the greater benefit is the IIoT’s ability to enable connected operations. Manufacturers want to increase the availability and uptime of their operational equipment.

Henry Ford, in the beginning, days of Ford Motor Company, would speed up manufacturing lines when he felt the need for a performance boost. This was often at great human expense. The same benefits are available to manufacturing acolytes in IIoT.

Iot in Manufacturing Examples

IoT has many benefits for the manufacturing process in any company. For example:

  • Real-time Machine Remote Monitoring
  • Predictive Maintenance
  • Production Visibility
  • Integrating Systems
  • Compiling KPIs
  • Asset Utilization
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Automation
  • Data Adquisition

Besides, the IIoT-enabled data streams from connected equipment will lead to a new wave of predictive analytics that will help in achieving this goal.

They want to digitally speed up manufacturing processes, using IIoT. They are more optimistic, however, as they believe that IIoT will speed up manufacturing operations without causing employee stress and also provide a benefit in terms of product quality and safety improvements

Although it is still early days for Industry 4.0 (and IoT platforms generally), there is no doubt that the need for IoT in manufacturing will improve the speed of production for many manufacturers.