Industry 4.

0 and the 9 Pillars

What is Industry 4.0?
Refers to the exciting area of automation within
manufacturing including IOT, robotics, cloud computing
and data management. We can look to the not-very-
distant future and see robotics, sensors and integrated
systems playing a huge part of a normal manufacturing
process. With technologists and engineers regularly
discussing topics like the “Smart Factory” and the “4th
Industrial Revolution”.
1. IOT: IOT gives us the ability to realise
Smart Cities: for example, we developed and
implemented an intelligent street lighting
system and network which can now be
enhanced to incorporate collation of
environmental data and additional video
links.
9 pillars of Industry 4.0
2. Big Data: Within the field of vehicle
tracking, companies can now manage and
interpret Insurance data to enable the
interpretation of driver behaviour and
accidents.
3. Cloud Computing: Harvesting large quantities
of data involves careful management, and
providing a ‘Data warehouse’ facility to
organisations is invaluable.
4. Advanced Simulation: Complex algorithms and
testing them allows for projects like inner-
city intelligent parking or a ‘Dead reckoning’
capability for GPS denied environments to come
to fruition.
5. Autonomous systems: More systems in
business are becoming autonomous and need
less human intervention to provide effective
results. We’ve applied this to a transport
scenario, with an interesting project recently
completed around object and vehicle detection.
6. Universal Integration: Integrating Factory
Test equipment and a bespoke Manufacturing
Execution System can enable remote access and
feedback into product test yield, improving
projections.
7. Augmented Reality: By creating computer-
generated perceptual information it is becoming
easier to train your staff, even in unique and
difficult conditions. It is very hard for example to
provide training scenarios for humanitarian crisis
aid or battlefield healthcare without risky in-field
training unless you consider AR.
8. Additive Manufacture: Application of AM
techniques to achieve fast market entry and
creative solutions is becoming more important in
a competitive environment. I have previously
written a blog on the 4 steps of Additive
Manufacture.
9. Cyber Security: Security of your infrastructure,
both online and offline is a business critical factor.
Bespoke systems design will ensure your
organisations’ Data Integrity
 Having all of these capabilities is all well and good but that is just
the beginning, they need to be applied to something in an
interconnected way within the manufacturing environment to be
counted as Industry 4.0, but that is only an application specific criteria.
Industry 4.0 is an exciting area as innovation is combined with
sustainable processes.”