Let’s make a test: who has never heard about Industry 4.0? Probably nobody raised his hand. In fact, Industry 4.0 is a ‘passe-partout’ buzzword that is being used in any situation. The problem is that the users of this word often don’t have a clear understanding of its real meaning. But one thing is sure: Industry 4.0 is not a simple matter of technologies. The main technologies being used in the current (still few) Industry 4.0 application existed before Industry 4.0.
On the other hand, Industry 4.0 forces to think about new models and new approaches to the business. And, by the way, the Industry 4.0 concepts are not limited to the manufacturing industry, their scope is much wider. Even public utilities, service companies or ski lift plants can be redesigned with Industry 4.0 in mind.
Let’s make an example of the misunderstanding surrounding Industry 4.0.
Recently, in a TV program broadcasted in Estonia a professor of Mechatronics from the Tallinn Technical University was interviewed by a journalist. The professor talked about Industry 4.0 without any hesitation and had no doubt: Industry 4.0 is strictly related to unmanned robots. Tens of robots (“even 30 or more,” he said) doing any kind of manufacturing operation: this is Industry 4.0.
This opinion was strongly biased and many points can demonstrate that the professor was wrong.
Point number one: the largest company in Estonia has no robots inside its plants. They are anyway developing an Industry 4.0 project and, for the training of managers and staff, they called a company working in the electronics and communication area. They did not call any mechatronics specialist. In this case, mechatronics isn’t required at all.
Point number two: in small Estonia there is no company having more than few robots inside its plants. In this case, according to what the professor said, Industry 4.0 has absolutely no future in Estonia (and in the Baltic area as a whole). But this is not true, as the above example - among many others - can demonstrate.
Point number three: Industry 4.0 is not just producing in an unmanned way. Already in the ‘60s of last century people spoke about ‘garbage in, garbage out’, i.e.: if you don’t review and change your business model, computers and robots will not help to do better. They will only help to fire people, and this doesn’t seem a good result. In this case, Industry 4.0 wouldn’t be promoted by many public organizations.
Point number four: yes, robots and mechatronics can be anyway important for Industry 4.0 targets. But even more important are ‘horizontal’ technologies that can be used in any kind of application: Industrial Ethernet, fieldbus technologies, cyber-physical systems, the internet of things, user-friendly interactivity, etc.
Point number five: let’s imagine for a while that the professor is right: robots and mechatronics are the core technologies of Industry 4.0. Now the question is: where the professor lived in the last 30-40 years? He never heard about ABB Robotics, Kuka, Comau (with its Powertrain) and so on? He doesn’t know that the automotive industry is already using unmanned lines since decades? He never visited a fair like BIMU, EMO, AT&T or the Hannover Messe in Europe?
Conclusion: in this ‘far west’ era, in which ‘Industry 4.0’ is a buzzword being used without any rationality, everyone can try to give ‘Industry 4.0’ the meaning he wants. Newspapers and specially tv help these people to disseminate their bad point of view. People at home could think that Industry 4.0 is something reserved only to large companies with some mechanical production. But this is not true.
We should find another starting point, to make Industry 4.0 really interesting to everybody, like an industrial revolution should be. This starting point are the new business models, that allow companies to offer new added-value services, decrease their energy bill, increase the efficiency of plants and people, etc. And, because any company or organization has a business model, Industry 4.0 automatically becomes interesting to any company or organization.
Moreover, Industry 4.0 can help to solve some of the problems that were created by the previous industrial revolutions: from water and air pollution to the excessive exploitation of the natural resources, to the creation of social disparities. As Mathias März writes in an interesting article entitles ‘(R)Evolution 4.0’ (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/revolution-40-mathias-m%C3%A4rz), “There are six big implications of the digital age on Humanity - beyond products, services and industry”. Time has come to upgrade Humanity 3.0 into Humanity 4.0, and Industry 4.0 can give us the chance to do it.
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