The era of mass production is behind us. Ahead we are looking at a new era of manufacturing supporting mass customization and products sold as a service. Industry analysts and visionaries have identified this era as a new industrial revolution. We will dive into the developments leading to this current industrial revolution, but first, we will review the prior ones for some historical context.
The First Industrial Revolution occurred between the late 18th century and early 19th century and it changed the way the world produced goods. Advances in materials, manufacturing processes, transportation and communications facilitated this industrial revolution. Processes were developed to mass produce iron and steel to make everything from appliances, tools, and machines, to buildings and ships. The power loom revolutionized textiles and the assembly line revolutionized manufacturing. The steam engine enhanced transportation and the telegraph improved communications across the ocean.
The Second Industrial Revolution starts in the late 19th century, continues into the early 20th century and is nicknamed the Electrical Revolution. It includes the development of the internal combustion engine, and advances in fuel, infrastructure, standardization and mass production through interchangeable parts technology. Infrastructure advances include large growth in railroad, gas, water, electricity, telegraph and telephone networks. Governments step in and establish standards for a range of services that facilitate this industrial revolution including railroad gauges, electricity voltages, layout of typewriter keyboards, and rules of the road for automobiles. This period was marked by large economies of scales created by the new infrastructure and a corresponding reduction in cost of machines and equipment.
The Third Industrial Revolution, called the Electronics or Internet Revolution, starts in the late 20th century. Electronic technology becomes widespread. From telephones, to television, to satellites, to computers—electronics are everywhere. Closed government and private networks give way to an open network called the World Wide Web (a.k.a. the Internet). Numerical Controlled (NC) machines and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) are developed for manufacturing automation. Personal computers (PCs) are adopted at the factory floor as part of automation and tracking systems based on spreadsheets, custom database applications, and the first wave of commercial manufacturing software including Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). Lean Manufacturing practices, automation, and information systems lead to big manufacturing productivity improvements in this era. Distributed information networks loosely connect manufacturing enterprise software for procurement, inventory control, scheduling, operations management, and financial management. During the latter part of this revolution, the Internet is embraced for eCommerce applications and data exchange with suppliers via standards like EDI. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) concepts are developed for integration among enterprise applications, but due to a lack of standardization, integration mechanisms do not reach the desired level of plug-and-play integration.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, dubbed the Digital or Cyber-Physical Revolution, is starting now in the 21st century. Many industry analyst and consulting groups are forecasting this industrial revolution. IDC predicts that enterprises will invest $120 billion next year to connect operations, buildings, equipment and mobile devices, and that the new Smart Manufacturing IT platform (which they call the 3rd IT platform) will drive innovation and growth in the IT industry for the next twenty years. Gartner estimates that connected pieces of equipment in manufacturing will rise 30% every year to over 500 million by 2020.
This industrial revolution is fueled by the convergence of multiple game changing technologies including the proliferation of personal use smart phones, Internet-based services and home automation, and advances in manufacturing including 3D model-based engineering, 3D printing, robotics, mobile tablet computers, and cloud computing. Advances in computer and network speed and volume capabilities provide enhanced platforms for commerce, industrial and social exchanges. “Smart” devices with huge computing power and Internet connectivity are not confined to personal use, they are starting to invade the manufacturing shop floor. Cyber-physical systems are digital representations of physical systems and are used to communicate status and properties of the physical system to other cyber-physical systems and applications in the Smart Factory. This revolution enables new business models for manufacturing shifting from mass production to mass customization of products, and selling of more products as an annual service versus the traditional buy-it-once sale.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is also the “Smart Manufacturing” revolution. The new Smart Factory is a combination of smart facilities, machines and equipment with built-in sensors, self-diagnostics and connection to manufacturing systems. Smart Manufacturing goes beyond smart machines, IIoT and the Smart Factory, recognizing that manufacturing processes in the 21st century go beyond the plant floor and must integrate the entire value chain that creates the final product. Smarter digital threads of product and process definitions, and smarter connected manufacturing machines need to come together with smarter manufacturing business processes to achieve the Smarter Manufacturing enterprise. Production processes in the smart factory can be optimized for use of manpower, equipment and energy resources through simulation with digital representations and models. Smart Manufacturing brings under its umbrella multiple government and industry initiatives including IoT, Digital Manufacturing, Model-Based Enterprise and Industrie 4.0, and will need hardware and software vendors to embrace new standards for integration to enable a new level of productivity and plug-and-play among manufacturing equipment, facilities, and enterprise systems. Governments and industry have created initiatives to accelerate the needed standardization.
Examples of current government investments and initiatives in manufacturing technologies and standardization include “Industrie 4.0” (www.bmbf.de/en/19955.php) in Germany, DMDII (dmdii.uilabs.org) in the United States, and “Industry of the Future” (www.economie.gouv.fr/files/files/PDF/pk_industry-of-future.pdf) in France. Industry is also taking on its own initiatives to establish standards in groups like the Industrial Internet Consortium (www.industrialinternetconsortium.org), the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (www.smartmanufacturingcoalition.org), and the Manufacturing Enterprise Systems Association (www.mesa.org).
The current industrial revolution has ramifications for manufacturing strategy and systems governance. Available data from connected smart devices will be driving step changes in data processing and analytical capabilities. Operational efficiencies will be improved by the automation of decision and direct integration of operations to the value chain extending from suppliers to end customers. People, systems, assets are now able to communicate and collaborate with each other in ways that were previously not possible. Smart Manufacturing enabled systems will transform businesses, enabling them to shift from capacity to capability focus, and further boost productivity, improve quality, and bring products and services to market faster.
References:
[1] “The Future of Manufacturing,” Pierfrancesco Manenti, Lorenzo Veronesi and William Lee, IDC Manufacturing Insights, 2014
[2] The Emperor’s New Clothes and the Factory of the Future,” Simon Jacobson, Gartner Supply Chain Conference, 2015
[3] “Industrial Internet: Pushing the Boundaries of Minds and Machines,” Peter Evans and Marco Annunziata, General Electric White Paper, 2012
It looks like your website ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say A Fourth Industrial Revolution is a great era for Machinery as well as Technology!
Posted by: Power Loom Machine Manufacturers | November 29, 2017 at 09:57 PM