In terms of technological advancement at this day and age, we stand on the brink of a revolution commonly referred to as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’. The term encompasses such areas of technology as artificial intelligence, cloud, and cognitive computing or general computerization of manufacturing. The whole concept can be generally described as a smart factory that defines continuous communication where machines and products contact each other without human intervention and every object is able to share its data from anywhere in the world through an interconnected planetary network.
The components that would make such factory smart include numerous simulation tools, information technologies, state-of-the-art machines, big data analytics, augmented reality and many more. The common factor for all these elements is the Internet of Things, which simply takes the old Internet and M2M communication into the next level by offering a technology that connects not only people with people and devices with devices, but lets these two actors intercommunicate on every level. The integration of such solution allows sensors, actuators, and other smart devices to work independently with humans not being obligated to but rather allowed to intervene. This, in turn, results in devices being able to self-optimize the production process which leads to reduced costs for companies. Although it may sound a bit sci-fi, IoT truly is making great leaps towards its full incorporation into the supply chain. What may hinder this progress is major fragmentation of IoT that complicates the already complicated market.
The vast scope and rapid tempo of Industry 4.0 revolution result in millions of different types of devices gathering data using different protocols and working over different networks. It’s hard to make it work, yet it’s clear that bringing all this together can be done through an Internet of Things platform.
Alex is a professional writer and digital marketing expert.