FAQ

What is Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, is the logical next step in integrating more technology into the production environment in order to optimize production and increase revenue. It is characterized by new technologies that blur the lines between physical and digital worlds; it is not the traditional, manual, and sequential value chain we grew up with but rather a fully connected Digital Core. 

What is the digital transformation in the IP&C journey? 

Each digital manufacturing transformation journey consists of the same basic steps:

1. Imagine: Get the right focus
   This phase is about quickly setting ambitions and charting a path to success by developing a roadmap to achieve those ambitions. We do this by creating an aligned portfolio of ideas called “Provocations” that are informed by current trends, disruptors and user needs.
2. Deliver: Get the concept right
   In this phase, we build a deep and empathetic understanding of user needs and behaviours to design solutions for them based on the desired provocation(s). We make ideas tangible and put the ambition in motion by designing, testing and learning in the market by launching MVOs (Minimum Viable Offerings).
3. Run: Get the business to scale
   This phase delivers and scales the ambition through flexible and integrated delivery teams. We evolve the MVO to greater maturity and improve operational pillars to support lasting success.

How can Industry 4.0 be used to transform businesses?

Manufacturers are using Industry 4.0 to transform their business in six fundamental ways:

1. Creating smart products and services
2. Connecting and integrating in new ways
3. Accelerating innovation and design cycles
4. Predicting changes and responding in real-time
5. Creating a digital link between OT and IT
6. Aiding users and workers through digital information

What are the benefits of Industry 4.0 for organisations?

Asset efficiency & productivity

Reams of data are generated through continuous analysis, which reveal asset performance issues that can require corrective optimization for maintaining and improving productivity. Asset efficiency should translate into lower asset downtime, optimized capacity, and reduced changeover time, among other potential benefits.

Quality

Quality defect trends can be identified sooner and can help to identify discrete human, machine, or environmental causes of poor quality. This could lower scrap rates and lead times, and increase fill rates and yield. A more optimized quality process could lead to a better quality product with fewer defects and recalls.

Cost reduction

Optimized processes traditionally lead to more cost efficient processes. A better process could also mean an integrated view of the supply network with rapid, no latency responses to sourcing needs, lowering costs further. Since a better quality process may also mean a better quality product, it could also mean lowered warranty and maintenance costs.

Sustainability 

The types of operational efficiencies that Industry 4.0 can provide may result in a smaller environmental footfrint than in a conventional manufacturing process, with greater environmental sustainability overall.

Safety 

Greater process autonomy may provide for less potential for human error, including industrial accidents that cause injury. Technologies will likely replace certain roles that require repetitive and fatiguing activities, with the role of the human worker taking on greater levels of judgment and on the spot discretion, leading to greater job satisfaction.

Flexibility & Agility 

Manufacturers can implement the smart factory in many different ways and reconfigure it to adjust as existing priorities change or new ones emerge. One of the most important features of the smart factory, agility, also presents manufacturers with multiple options to
leverage digital and physical technologies depending on their specific needs.

More information?

If you have any other questions or would like to discuss opportunities, please contact us.