Industry 4.0 will see intelligent machines and smart factories usher in a new era of manufacturing. This is the fourth industrial revolution, and it will impact everything.
Massive industrial change is afoot, fuelled by the advancement of digital technologies. The fusion of physical and virtual worlds into a cyber-physical system will have a disruptive impact on every element of manufacturing.
This transformation, referred to as ‘Industry 4.0’, has the potential to retool global industry and reorder the global economy.
First introduced by the German government to promote the computerisation of manufacturing, the term Industry 4.0 refers to a fourth industrial revolution – following those ushered in by steam power, electrical power and computing. The German government has since promoted the concept vigorously as a means to new economic growth.
It has good reason to. Countries that lead this new industrial charge stand to make significant gains in terms of economic productivity. For some, and for Western Europe as a whole, it presents an opportunity to reverse an epic decline that has lasted a generation.
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