Benefits of Industry 4.0 in the World of Work

Industry 4.0 technologies could potentially transform the manufacturing chain completely. The benefits of digitization are significant from the efficiency of production, to the deployment of innovative products and services.

Revenue gains

According to a report by PwC (https://i4-0-self-assessment.pwc.nl/i40/study.pdf) digitalised services and products create €110 billion additional profit per year in Europe. Revolutionary companies with digitalised services and products have noticed a significant growth in the last few years. Almost 50% of businesses who are converting to Industry 4.0 are expected to double their revenue in the next 5 years of implementation. Also, one in five businesses expect a 20% sales rise.

With the help of big data analytics, companies can also gain a deeper understanding of customer needs. The new information provided, can be applied to product development and used to build up customer interactions.

Increased efficiency and productivity

An article published in OECD.org by McKinsey & Company (http://www.oecd.org/dev/Digital-in-industry-From-buzzword-to-value-creation.pdf) estimate that converting to automation and digitalisation can boost productivity in technical professions by 45% – 55%. IoT (Internet of Things) has already been applied in large companies such as Siemens, Airbus, Cisco and many other companies in the Industry, which can now create more advanced IoT ecosystems of devices developed by sellers. The initial products enable seamless, fast and secure cross-platform connectivity and data exchanges between different IioT (Industrial Internet of Things) systems.

Human-robot teams are appearing in the factories now. The new generation robots are able to help manufacturers automate parts of the production process in order to get the products to the market faster. The MIT technology review (https://www.technologyreview.com/s/530696/how-human-robot-teamwork-will-upend-manufacturing/) estimates that the collaboration with the robot teams will reduce the workers time by 85%.

Improved supply/demand matching

Cloud-based inventory management solutions enable better interactions with suppliers. Instead of operating in “individual silo”, you can create seamless exchanges and ensure that companies that have applied Industry 4.0 technologies to their system have:

  • High service-parts fill rates;
  • High levels of product uptime with minimal risk;
  • Higher customer service levels.

By pairing their inventory management system with a big data analytics solution, they will improve their demand by at least 85%. They can also perform real-time supply chain optimization and gain more visibility into the possible tailbacks, and expanding their growth.

Tasks:

Additional Task: https://h5p.org/node/725505