4th industrial revolution: how to enter the era of smart factories?

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The steam engine, the era of mass production and the emergence of digital technologies marked the three industrial revolutions that profoundly impacted societies and the global economy. We have recently witnessed the fourth industrial revolution with the advent of Industry 4.0 and people are already beginning to talk about Industry 5.0, where the focus is on humanization.

With the emergence and combination of innovations such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IOT) or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), we are facing a revolution that is transforming manufacturing processes and introducing a digital reality that drives the creation of so-called smart factories that use technology to improve their processes and results.
The origin of the 4th industrial revolution
The fourth industrial revolution is not defined by the emergence of new technologies, but rather by the fusion of a set of technologies that are blurring the boundaries between the physical, biological and digital worlds. According to German economist Klaus Schwab, the fourth industrial revolution is the revolution of mass digitalization, the Internet of Things, machine learning and robotization, but also of nanotechnology and new materials, and biotechnology - technologies that merge the physical, digital and biological worlds, applied to production processes. The result? The emergence of smart factories that, by combining these technologies, improve their processes and results.
What sets a smart factory apart?
The era of factories depicted in Charlie Chaplin's ivory coast whatsapp number database film "Modern Times" is long gone. In the film, still in black and white and silent, it was possible to see people working at an unparalleled speed and in a mechanized manner. Industry has evolved since then until we reach the new era of smart factories that break away from traditional industrial structures. Smart factories use technological solutions to improve, automate and modernize their production processes.

To achieve this, they rely on cyber-physical systems that allow equipment, resources and people to communicate in an interconnected manner and in real time. They use technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data that, in an interconnected manner, exchange information that allows processes and resources to be optimised throughout the manufacturing process.

In the report "The smart factory”, Deloitte highlights five key characteristics of smart factories:

Connectivity: Smart factories require processes to be connected to generate up-to-date data, which is essential for making informed, real-time decisions. This data integration enables a holistic view of processes, driving greater efficiency.

Optimization: A smart factory allows operations to be carried out with minimal manual intervention, based on highly reliable, automated workflows. This optimizes production, uptime and quality, while reducing costs and waste.

Transparency: access to data updated in real time allows greater visibility of the entire process, enabling informed decision-making.

Proactivity: In a proactive system, employees and systems can anticipate and act before anomalies arise. The ability to predict future outcomes based on historical data combined with real-time metrics improves performance and service quality.

Flexibility: A smart factory has the flexibility to adapt to changes with minimal intervention and impact. For example, smart factories can configure their equipment flows according to the product being produced, without compromising the factory’s uptime and performance.
How does the 4th industrial revolution apply in practice?
The World Economic Forum highlights in its report "Fourth Industrial Revolution Beacons of Technology and Innovation in Manufacturing" real examples considered success stories that demonstrate how the implementation of Industry 4.0 technology helps to solve problems identified in different phases of the process and in factories with different areas of activity.
Procter & Gamble Example
Examples include Procter & Gamble . Among its 4.0 innovations is the introduction of smart technologies in the area of ​​quality control. Until then, this was a manual sampling process that did not guarantee 100% of the quality of each batch. Now, quality control is based on real-time analysis applied to data collected by various sensors. The line can be stopped if a deviation is detected and reports allow operators to check the quality of the batch for release. The benefits brought by this technological introduction were a 50% reduction in rework and complaints.
The results brought by the shift to the Industry 4.0 paradigm were significant. In just three years, productivity increased by 160% and customer satisfaction by 116%.
Rold's example
Another example highlighted is that of Rold, an SME that, by introducing digital control panels with metrics on the overall effectiveness of its equipment, has facilitated real-time monitoring of production resources distributed across different factories. In addition, notification systems have been incorporated into the machines that communicate in real time with operators via smartwatches.

This SME also introduced the creation of prototypes through 3D printing , which reduced the time to launch new products on the market.
Also at Rold the results were impressive, having had an overall growth of 7-8%.
Advantages of smart technology for creating the factories of the future
We have already discussed the impact and advantages of Industry 4.0 on companies. And, looking at the examples we have mentioned, it is easy to see the added value of incorporating smart technologies into the processes of the factories of the future: reduced costs, errors and waste, faster operations, with less human intervention and greater precision . There are gains in efficiency, in production time and in the introduction of new products to the market, in scalability and in smarter products and services.