Industry 4.0: An Introduction – What It Is and Which Companies Use It.

Let’s take a different approach to this trending topic and delve a little deeper.

The “official” definition of this new and revolutionary concept refers to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which consists of the introduction of digital technologies into industry, but… are these technologies accessible and useful for my business?

Let’s review the fields encompassed by Industry 4.0:

• 3D Printers: Although we may have seen some, we are not sure what a 3D printer can contribute to our business if we are not dedicated to something very specific. For example, Nike manufactured the cleats for the 2014 Super Bowl players’ boots using 3D printers. That is, something we need to automate for large productions.

• Collaborative Robotics: With Industry 4.0 comes the era of the “cobot”, the robot that collaborates with humans to solve flexibility and cost needs for SMEs. This has led to the development of a new family of automatons defined by their complete interaction with human beings within production chains. BMW’s production plant in South Carolina (USA) uses this technology.

• Internet of Things: Refers to a network of interconnected everyday objects. Its benefit can be seen in large cities where all kinds of data are reported: weather, humidity, people walking in certain areas, pollution, etc. In the city of Santander (Cantabria), data collection devices have been placed throughout the city to report all kinds of data: surface parking, smart irrigation systems, environmental information, lighting control, etc.)

• Augmented Reality: We use this term to define a view through a technological device, enriching the visual experience and improving communication quality. It is primarily used in education.

• Cyber-Physical Systems: They have the ability to interact with physical objects to monitor and/or control available information from the virtual world, making it possible to learn and evolve with them.
• Big Data: Another revolutionary concept that is gaining much success. Large amounts of data that need to be analyzed and processed to transform them into useful information for our company. Check out the next post

Since you’ve made it this far, it shows that you are truly interested in this topic, so the continuation of this post is in the following: Industry 4.0 The technology of the 21st century: “How we can”.

Cheer up, you’re one step away from understanding what concept is applicable to your business!