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Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things: Innovation on the Manufacturing Floor

By Dick Weisinger

Manufacturers are talking about moving on to a new phase, Industry 4.0.  It’s a term that started in Germany and is now being used by analysts like McKinsey and Gartner.

But if we’re already at 4.0, then what were the milestones that made up Industry 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0?  In a piece for ZDNet, Joe McKendrick summarizes it nicely:

  • Industry 1.0: Water/steam power
  • Industry 2.0: Electric power
  • Industry 3.0: Computing power
  • Industry 4:0: Internet of Things (IoT) power

The components that are work together to drive this fourth phase of innovation include:

  • Collaboration tools
  • The Internet of Things
  • Cybersecurity
  • The Cloud
  • Big Data Analytics
  • Simulation
  • Robots

Brian Holliday, division director of Siemens Industry Automation, said that “Industry 4.0 is a 20-year journey.  It’s not something that’s going to come about in two or five year’s time … But the work that goes in now to create the platforms, the protocols and the connections between the smart devices that will enable the digitally designed factory environments, that is envisaged by programs like Industry 4.0.”

 

 

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