Industry 4.0: A challenge and a chance

Putting the client first, Industry 4.0 guarantees better products, more efficient production methods and bespoke industrial services. The comprehensive interconnection of processes in production, logistics and services is a huge issue at practically every large manufacturer in Europe. In the US and Asia, too, it is the definitive changing force of the era. Cyber-physical systems might form the basis of the next industrial revolution.
Its influence is trickling down through every sector of industry and the wider economy. Industry 4. is already changing the landscape of competition with far-reaching consequences for the workforce and infrastructure as a whole. In a nutshell, Industry 4.0 is nothing more than a fully integrated, value creation system – with huge impact on Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) for both industry and nation states.
For the first time such concepts as cyber security, big data and advanced manufacturing can all be brought under one virtual roof to satisfy the mass customization demands of society, reap the benefits of the internet revolution and perhaps most importantly finally begin to take the word sustainability seriously and treat resources with more respect. The path ahead however is littered with obstacles and achieving this land of digital milk and honey will be anything but easy. Lot-size-one production at cost of mass products will change consumer behaviour.