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Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0, often signified as the fourth industrial revolution, is in essence a living network of machines, people and products enabling real-time optimization of the entire manufacturing flow. Intelligent manufacturing promises higher production efficiency from factory floors all the way through the value chain of manufacturing, supplier and distribution. Workflow optimization and customization, asset tracking, predictive maintenance and real-time inventory optimization are some of the key objectives of Industry 4.0.

Following are the trends for these search terms for last 5 years. Industry 4.0 is one of the most searched term in this area.

Credit: Google Trends

More and more companies and CIO’s have started thinking about Industry 4.0. But the big question is  How do I get started? What is really needed for me to get started?

Think of Industry 4.0/Smart Manufacturing as a tool to improve your speed and agility of decision-making.

Here is how we can help you get going on Industry 4.0 for Your Company:

1. Define the Problem

To get started we have to think and choose one or two small areas where you believe there are big losses and data is available. The Industry 4.0 levers in the picture below below could help you choose and assess the potential of each of these areas and respective losses.

Credit: Mckinsey

e.g.

If you are a wind energy or solar energy company then your asset utilization area might be more important than rest,

or

if you are a manufacturing company with lot of emphasis on quality and have lot of manual work processes, then Asset utilization with Quality area might be the areas you may want to start with depending on losses/opportunities.

2. Easy Start

In early stages it is very important to demonstrate value, hence choose an area where you believe there are very high chances of early success.

If you are a manufacturing company then Asset utilization is pretty easy to start with. This is one of the areas where getting data will be fairly easy and you can demonstrate value almost instantaneously.

To get started you can use following tools to assess your readiness-

PWC – Industry 4.0 Self Assessment

EY – Digital Readiness Assessment (DRA)

An Industrial or Manufacturing capability can be divided in following areas:

1. Connection Ready

2. Visibility Ready

3. Efficiency/Advanced Analytics Ready

4. Transformation Ready

Connection readiness is the Foundation in this journey.

Project can only start if data is available and is accessible. In some cases historical data may also be a part of requirement to initiate the project. Once the data is available and accessible, the visibility across lines/plants/regions is easy to achieve.

This is the phase an organization starts implementing standard KPI’s like OEE, Availability, Cycle Time, Defects, PPM in a seamless manner. The immediate impact is, whole of the manufacturing partners start seeing inefficiencies in the system and take action.

The areas in which we can help your organization derive value Industry 4.0 value are- enhanced productivity, better availability, improved throughput.

3. Organizational Capability

Leadership sponsor on Industry 4.0 project must understand that this is one of the fastest growing areas, new emerging technologies and solutions are being developed very fast.

Organizational capability is another important component, this includes seeking a right level leadership sponsor for your program, funding, getting the project team resources.

Talk to us about “Piloting a Data Analytics Project for your Organization”

In case you or your company has already started on Industry 4.0 /Smart Manufacturing journey and would like to explore potential use cases or have questions, drop a note for us to ensure further success.

Credit: Amit Kurhekar, Senior Technology Manager, Procter & Gamble – Read on LinkedIn

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High-Tech / Consumer

High-Tech & Consumer Electronics Companies undergoing digital transformation need an end-to-end partner to help 

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INSPIRONICS can help realize Industrial IoT solutions organizational roadmap and guide the Industry 4.0