If you’re feeling a little behind in the Digital Transformation and need a helping hand, don’t worry; it’s very common.
In 2022, the global market size of Industry 4.0 was $146.14 billion. This is predicted to increase by 19.9% annually up to 2030. Clearly, there’s a lot of space for development in the meantime.
Thankfully, manufacturers have a wealth of Industry 4.0 technologies and tools to choose from. We’ll take you through our top 3.
In today’s blog, we’ll cover:
- What is Industry 4.0?
- Why are Industry 4.0 tools important?
- What top tech tools are there for Industry 4.0?
- How to use Industry 4.0 tools right
- mlean & Industry 4.0 technologies
Let’s take a look!
What is Industry 4.0?
We’ve been over this in more detail elsewhere, but it’s useful to recap exactly what we’re talking about with Industry 4.0.
Industry 4.0 is the latest revolution in manufacturing technology and resulting processes. It’s a term we use to talk about the connectivity between machines and staff through tech like artificial intelligence, robotics, and smart data processing.
In a nutshell, an Industry 4.0 factory is at the cutting edge of manufacturing.
And it can expect some pretty impressive gains from its investments.
Why are Industry 4.0 tools important?
Industry 4.0 technologies can be used to augment, improve, or automate every kind of work that goes on in a typical factory.
This is important for your business because factories can no longer rely on existing systems to remain competitive.
With costs saved and an increase in productivity and profitability that come with a fully connected production line, factories that have made the investment in new tech can start reaping significant rewards.
For instance, imagine what a 15-50% labour productivity increase could mean for their bottom line. Or how an 85% forecasting accuracy improvement would translate to strategy and deployment.
Suddenly, their operation is much slicker, more efficient, and better optimised than competitors using legacy tech.
So how can Industry 4.0 tech help you specifically?
Let’s go through 2 immediate use cases for Industry 4.0 technology: health and safety, and process optimisation.
Health & Safety
In 2020 alone, 373,300 injuries were reported in factories in the US. These typically come from accidents on the shop floor, and not because of a lack of safety protocol from the factory itself.
By taking over certain dangerous or physically demanding procedures along your line, robotics could play a significant role in reducing accidents and making the workplace safer.
This matters not only for the wellbeing of your staff, but for your bottom line too. The National Safety Council identified that work-related injuries cost a total of $167 billion in 2022. In other words; fewer accidents, more money saved.
Process optimisation
Think of how your factory would save time and perform more efficiently with a system that connects each part of your line to a central, digital platform that everyone can access.
Suddenly, you’re able to cut down on tedious, non-value-added administrative tasks, reduce paper consumption, increase the clarity and reliability of your data, and act faster to resolve problems.
In the end, your biggest asset for improving your processes is data. Outdated, analogue data retrieval systems won’t cut it.
A digital solution that learns from your data inputs and suggests improvements is how you’ll put any new hardware to its best use.
What top tech tools are there for Industry 4.0?
Depending on your priorities as a business, you may want to focus on one or two Industry 4.0 technologies to start with. You can find a comprehensive list of different tools in this article, but we want to help narrow down what can be an overwhelming field.
That said, here’s a quick list of options. These tools are focused on delivering the key objectives of any factory: reducing waste, boosting productivity, and increasing profitability.
Generative AI
The most famous example of generative AI is Chat GPT. This tool, though still relatively new, is immensely powerful and continues to become more sophisticated as it learns from more data.
In manufacturing, Generative AI can not only learn from your data and suggest improvements but also design new workflows and proactively solve inefficiencies.
Of course, this technology isn’t perfect and has its flaws, particularly with information accuracy, but used in full awareness of its limitations, it could be a game changer.
With different AI options currently available, each with their own strengths and capabilities, you’ll need to identify exactly what will be the most useful application for this technology.
Generative AI is still in its early stages in manufacturing, and use cases will multiply as the tech becomes more advanced.
However, you can already use Generative AI to, for example, create boilerplate text and reports without too much oversight. Even in this limited way, Generative AI could save your factory a good chunk of time on administrative tasks.
Lean software
Lean software can provide your factory with a data store, a tool for conducting audits, a new way to manage your shop floor, and more.
By combining the proven methods of lean manufacturing with a connected, digital platform, this technology is designed to make your factory continuously improve.
You can save time on admin and training, dedicating more time to value-added activities. Meanwhile, tools designed to help you understand the real strengths of your workforce will help you deploy them smarter across your line.
Lean software can help you in many ways. It all depends on what package you opt for.
Robotics
The appeal of robots and robotic systems is clear. By automating repetitive tasks, and with human help, robots can make your production line quicker and more predictable.
Robots are a big part of Industry 4.0 for this reason. And, if you’re like 83% of manufacturers, you’ll already use them for tasks like packaging.
As AI-powered robots become more sophisticated and common across the production line, there’s probably a good business case for introducing them to yours.
As we discussed earlier, more robots on the production floor could reduce accidents. But they could also create a whole new benchmark for productivity.
How to use Industry 4.0 tools right
Always plan ahead
Before you introduce any Industry 4.0 technologies, put together an implementation plan. Keep your primary goals the main focus of your strategy, and allow for an agreed timescale to begin measuring the impact your new tool makes.
If you have a rocky start or your team is unclear on what your new technology is designed to do, you’ll probably have some issues.
Keep your goals strictly measurable
If your aims are diffuse, you’ll struggle to work out exactly what value a piece of technology is bringing to your processes.
Before adopting Industry 4.0 tech, narrow your list of aims and objectives to a short list you can easily measure. Start with general issues your factory faces.
Then, when you have a better idea of how and where to make changes, choose a new piece of technology you can implement fairly painlessly, targeted at those areas.
Communicate with your team
Depending on what tool you’ll be using, staff will need to know how it will affect their day-to-day work.
When implementing a new piece of technology, you should also adjust training cadences and onboarding processes to allow for it.
People can be fearful of or resistant to change sometimes. Help reduce this by being upfront and open with staff, while highlighting how your new tool will make their jobs easier to perform.
mlean & Industry 4.0 technologies
The mlean Production System (mPS) is a comprehensive, all in one software for digital lean manufacturing.
Its modular system is designed to fit your factory’s needs, whatever they are.
So if you want to go paperless, the mPS Shop Floor Management and Auditing tools are designed to help you eliminate unnecessary paperwork with a system that everyone who needs it can use.
And meanwhile, you’ll be cutting a significant amount of admin time from your team’s daily routines.
If you want to improve Standardisation across your lines, our 5S Workshop, Visual Standards, Skill Matrix, and Standard Work Audit modules each have important roles to play in making your workforce more productive, and your processes more predictable.
To top it all, our Improvement Drivers learn from your data to suggest changes that will drive continuous improvement throughout your factory.
To learn more about our hugely popular system, book a discovery call with our sales team!
