What is Industry 4.0?

What is Industry 4.0 (IR 4.0)? What about Industry 4.0 History? What are the components of Industry 4.0? What are industry 4.0 technologies? What are the impacts of Industry 4.0 of our lives? What are the top industry 4.0 careers (industry 4.0 jobs)? We tried to answer all these questions about Industry 4.0 in this article.

What is Industry 4.0? | Definition of Industry 4.0 (IR 4.0)

What is Industry 4.0? Industry 4.0 Definition

What is Industry 4.0 in short; technology in production systems and all other organizations are equipped with the highest level of intelligence that will be possible holistically. Industry 4.0’s manufacturing vision is shaped by the focus of the intelligence–communication–information network–product quartet.

More specifically, Industry 4.0 digital manufacturing (automation, data exchange, manufacturing technologies), integrated communication network (internet of things(IoT), cyber-physical systems, intelligent factories (flexibility, speed, efficiency) and interpretation of data produce meaningful information is a structuring on the basis of.

Why should Industry 4.0 transition be made?

Nowadays, there is a rapid change process in many areas, especially in industrial life. In this process, the needs of the societies are differentiating and this differentiation naturally triggers the emergence of new products or changes the production strategies of these products. In fact, this rapid change has led to the necessity of smart societies to manage the power correctly.

While we were surprised to be able to exchange data between our phones with BlueTooth feature until 15-20 years ago and to be able to connect mobile phones to the internet, now we can talk about robots moving with their own artificial intelligence, quantum computers and lightless factories working without human muscle power. Isn’t development at such a dizzying pace?

Robots Developed By Boston Dynamics

In 2011 and later years, industrial production in the East (especially China) surpasses that of the West for the first time, and the western industry is beginning to see this as a threat. The West then needs a faster, more flexible and more efficient system in production. In fact, Industry 4.0 is beginning to enter our lives on such a threat before the time it should be.

Industry 4.0 revolution was first discussed in 2011 at the Hannover Messe, the world’s largest industrial fair. In 2012, Germany established a team related to this phenomenon and determined the basic elements of its transformation and established and continued to establish manufacturing standards on behalf of Germany.

In order to exist in the new world and to maintain its leadership in machine manufacturing, Germany kept this issue on its agenda. In fact, for Germany, we can say that the East has turned this threat into an opportunity.

In other words, Germany completed its basic preparations and announced the concept of Industry 4.0 to the world and announced that they plan to move from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0 within 20 years.

What did other countries do?

Japan highlighted the definition of Society 5.0 .

Britain began to follow the developments closely with the concept of 4R (Fourth Revolution).

China launched an innovation leadership program to stay behind in global competition.

On the other hand, the USA has started to carry out an intensive program of advanced manufacturing systems which proves that it will be behind the developments with the concepts of smart factories and especially smart cities.

Brief History of Industrial Revolutions

The industrialization movement started in 1784 with the invention of the first industrial loom. With the introduction of water and steam-powered mechanical production facilities, the work that many people would do for a long period of time was now available within 3-4 hours. (Industry 1.0)

With the invention of electricity in the early 20th century, mass production began. The first production line was applied in 1870 in the Cincinnati Slaughterhouses. (Industry 2.0)

Developments in information technology, the emergence of programmable logic controllers (PLC) (Modicon 084-1969), software developments have a large share in production has started to take the automation of manufacturing to advanced stages. (Industry 3.0)

Brief History of Industrial Revolutions

As Heraclitus says: “There is nothing permanent except change.”

While it took more than 1700 years for humanity to achieve the First Industrial Revolution, the Second Revolution was reached in a very short time compared to the first revolution, such as 200 years. Then a new wave of transformation was caught in less than 100 years. Today, we have found ourselves in the midst of a new social transformation before 40-50 years have passed. If this wave of rapid transformation continues like this, I think it is not wrong to think that there may be a new transformation in the near future (maybe 20-25 years later).

What Are the Components of Industry 4.0? Technologies Behind Industry 4.0

Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber is defined as manufacturing environments in the world that use physical sensors capable of managing the exchange of information and equipped with data tracking processing capability.

There is no transition to the real world without simulating the line where the products are produced. One of the goals is to contribute to minimizing the error.

Vertical & Horizontal Integration

Real-time information can be received and interpreted from all systems. This means that solutions that are normally part-by-part in production processes can be talked to each other and monitored instantly.

With this integration, businesses will have a more flexible structure. With this flexibility, the necessary changes according to production can be achieved with simple interface designs. Thus, a system that is easier to produce, reduces costs (increases resource efficiency) and can be fully reported, monitored and analyzed.

Autonomous Robots

Unlike Industry 3.0, a large number of robots in manufacturing systems are composed of teams of robots that work in coordination and communication with each other, not in a static manner (not like robots that do the same job continuously).

Augmented Reality

Virtual reality is intertwined with the real world, and special glasses allow virtually any system to be modeled on real systems.

If we explain with a simple example; you’re visiting an apartment that doesn’t exist physically. You could be able to walk around your new apartment as you have traveled in time.

With augmented reality, you are moving around the production lines virtually and perhaps you are lost in the mystery of a product that will make a breakthrough in the future.

Internet of Things (IoT)

As the name suggests, each object is planned to be connected to the internet and communicate with each other in any way. This means that the information generated from the connection can be directly transferred to the virtual environment and processed.

By 2024, it is foreseen that 40 billion objects will be connected to the Internet.

Take smartwatches, for example. These objects, which are permanently attached to our arm, instantly share the data via the Internet and obtain very useful information even with this data.

Imagine that if 40 billion objects will be connected to the internet and how big data could be generated!

Big Data & Analytics

Because of the Internet of things (IoT) and other technological developments, data is increasing very rapidly and analyzing this data is becoming very important in terms of getting the right information.

Since there are no problems with data storage and processing with cloud technology, what needs to be considered now is how to analyze this big data correctly.

Recommended For You: What is Business Intelligence (BI)? Definition of BI

3D Printers

The concept of the printer should now remain in our minds more as a device for printing three-dimensional objects than a device for printing on paper, and as a device for creating many objects from these printers. This is because interesting objects have been produced in relation to this technology that shed light on the answer to the question of what can be done in the future.

3 Amazing Examples of 3D Printing Technology

An 8-meter bridge was built with a 3D printer in the town of Gemert, near the city of Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

Bridge for bicycles with 3D printer (8 meters long) / Netherlands

In France, a 4-room house was built with a 3D printer and was completed in 54 hours. The house cost $ 233,000 and was 20% cheaper than normal construction.

It is not difficult to predict how much the cost will fall with the further development of this technology!

A 4-Room House in France with 3D Printer

In 2016, Airbus, one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, produced a 4-meter-long aircraft, all parts of which were made with 3D printer technique.

They announced that they plan to produce aircraft with 3D printers in the future except for engine parts.

For the first time, Airbus has produced an airplane of 4 meters with all parts made by a 3D printer.

Cyber Security

Intelligence and network security must be one of the most important technologies of Industry 4.0 to ensure trouble-free operation in a system where so much data and so many sensors communicate.

Preventive Maintenance Practices and Quality

It is one of the indispensable approaches of industrial life to determine the possible problems that may arise due to the machines working in communication with each other, away from human muscle strength and to take precautions by foreseeing them.

The implementation of this ensures that the error rate is minimized or even reduced to zero and that the quality is at very good levels.

Was Artificial Intelligence a Catalyst for IR 4.0?

Artificial Intelligence has necessarily been a trigger for Industry 4.0. One of the significant factors in the formation of unmanned manufacturing environments, one of the main characteristics of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is the study of artificial intelligence.

The purpose of artificial intelligence technology; They are computer systems that can understand and process information, establish relationships between events and make decisions on their own, learning events, plan and reason, think in part, and solve problems using their own knowledge.

The Impact of Industry Revolution 4.0 on Our Lifes

Unemployment and Employment

First of all, in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, robots take overproduction and the need for human resources based on muscle strength will be reduced and robots will take over the work of people working with muscle strength.

This poses a great risk not only for the blue-collar workers in the factories but also for the white-collar workers. Robots capable of coding robots with artificial intelligence and robots capable of designing will take over the production.

For this reason, it is clear that there will be no unemployment problem in the countries that design education policies accordingly because of the importance of self-developed human resources in the fields of knowledge-based, engineering, problem solving, programming and software.

Industry 4.0 will force human beings to use their minds, and will cause many troubles for countries that are unable to use their minds and still insist on muscle strength and do not prepare themselves for this transformation.

The Future Of Jobs With IR 4.0

With Industry 4.0 and other technological developments, new professions continue to emerge. (Industry 4.0 Jobs)

10 to 15 years ago, was there a profession called Business Intelligence Specialist? Did anyone know an engineer involved in data mining? 3D Printer Engineer? Or Robot Coordinator…

All these developments have created new employment opportunities for people. It does not seem to let down those who have transformed and developed in this direction.

Top Industry 4.0 Careers

• Equipment Systems Engineer
• Industrial User Interface Designer (UI and UX Designer)
• Controls Systems Engineer
• IT / IoT Solution Architect
• Robotics Engineer
• Data Scientist
• Validation Engineer
• Data Security Specialist
• Automation Engineer
• Project Manager
• Industrial Computer Engineering / Programming

References:

• BTD January 2018
• Ali Rıza Ersoy ‘s 2017 TEDxReset Presentation
• https://www.endustri40.com/
• https://slcontrols.com/industry-4-0-and-the-career-opportunities-it-presents/