INDUSTRY 4.0 JOURNEY

Following industrial trends becomes difficult and more important than ever in these days . Companies would like to avoid becoming statistics at business articles. There are tons of giants such as Kodak, Thomas Cook or the latest case Toys R US who prepared their ends as a result of neglecting the shifting demand at the market. Today’s demanding consumers pushes companies to become more agile if they are willing to endure in a connected ecosystem . The challenge is not only become agile and cost efficient but also need to Companies need to create long term value best user experience UX for their customers. The message is loud and clear: “The companies endurance is linked to their adaptation capabilities to the new business models.

Undeniably, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) or with the other name Industry 4.0 becomes more meaningful day by day because of the pressure on manufacturing. A high level of integration between manufacturing and the market demands has become a necessity instead of an option, and that makes the industrial digitalization a requirement as a result. The old fashion mass production tools must evolve into more flexible systems if companies are willing to satisfy their customer needs on time.

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Data Stream

The core benefit of smart manufacturing and 4IR technologies is the ability they offer manufacturers to monitor, and act upon the data from connected machines. Thus decision-makers, either humans or machines, can see weaknesses in the system before they become problems or can push it to achieve greater efficiency. 

The Annual Manufacturing Report 2018 published in The Manufacturer also highlights the trends at the UK manufacturing. The featuring facts on the report show us manufacturers have no concern about adopting new technologies. According to the latest survey, %80 of manufacturers believe Smart Factory technologies will improve their supply chain relationships, and %89 believe Smart Factory technologies will enable staff to work smarter.

The way of adopting Industry 4.0 should absolutely be different for not only big enterprises but also the SMEs. Therefore, throughout the industry 4.0 journey, customised paths should be preferred according to the priority of enterprises because adoption of  industry 4.0 is not as simple as utilising a manufacturing plant with plenty of smart sensors and collecting data from them, or buying a software and expecting it to increase the efficiency of resource management. To turn industry 4.0 adoption into a success story, manufacturing companies should build a digital network that creates real time data flow bidirectionally, from manufacturing plant to decision makers. This data flow will construct the backbone of the company because it will be accessible to every single employee, and this will enable high level of collaboration among all employees from top to bottom

Successful industrial digitalization tools should perfectly fit your business model to create a leverage for you in the market. Industry 4.0 journey has more clear paths for manufacturing companies that mainly focus on efficiency improvements and collaboration. However, this may be challenging for the companies providing industrial engineering services because of the nature of their business. The Value creation of engineering service companies is more complex, and they mostly need to create tailor made solutions. They struggle with complex engineering problems in their daily routine and are expected to provide ingenious solutions. Therefore, a simulation software can become an essential element of their value creation process. Because, such kind of software accelerate their design and testing processes which are highly technical and must be conducted seamlessly. Also, engineering companies can create Digital Twin of their applications with the help of a specialised Simulation Software. Digital Twin of an Industrial Application will bring many benefits to Engineering companies as they can visualise and test their solutions virtually. What is more, this software can provide off-line commissioning feature.

The technologies come with the Industry 4.0 are reshaping our businesses, and the visionary companies who start to use such kind of innovative solutions will start to add new values to their products and services. The struggle point is to plan your itinerary for the journey of 4th industrial revolution before missing the boat.