India: Industry 4.

0: Part 3 of 4

In part 1 & 2 of this series, we have understood the industry 4.0 technologies with practical
examples as well as some Indian companies which are experimenting some of these
initiatives under industry 4.0 on pilot basis.
I have also stressed in part 2 that some of the technologies in industry 4.0 bucket are still
evaluating, standards and protocols are still being framed up.
Any new technology adoption is a challenging process from Technology change, Investment
and change management part of it. The business & investments risks also need to be
factored in.
Where to Start from?
An initiative like industry 4.0 is a massive transformation exercise and as such it needs to
have proper vision and strategy in place instead of just joining the bandwagon. Trying to
take a dramatic jump directly may result in business disruption, loss of reputation and
forgoing the investment.
It is necessary for Indian industries to make a reality check. There are various models and
strategies published by eminent institutes as well as consulting companies.
Based on my review of these leading framework, I found the pioneering study on “Readiness
assessment “done by IMPULS foundation, a great reference point of for assessing
company’s readiness and then draw a roadmap further.
This “Industry 4.0 Readiness” study was commissioned by the IMPULS Foundation of the
German Engineering Federation (VDMA) and conducted by IW Consult (a subsidiary of the
Cologne Institute for Economic Research) and the Institute for Industrial Management (FIR)
at RWTH Aachen University. VDMA experts and some industry representatives served in an
advisory capacity in the development of the study. ( Ref: https://www.industrie40-
readiness.de/?lang=en)
Readiness check or Reality check for Industry 4.0
The IMPULS study recommended 6 dimensions to be checked for readiness, which are
described in brief below.
1.Strategy and Organization
2.Smart Factory
3.Smart operations
4.Smart products
5.Data driven services
6.employees
The organization readiness for Industry 4.0 for a company is done based on study of 6
critical factors and then the company is ranked for industry 4.0 readiness on 1 to 5 scales, as
given below.

Depending upon the readiness score, based on above model, company can fall between 1.5
to 4.5 based on their reediness, on the 6 factors of assessments.
This readiness check can give a company, inputs so that:

 It can revisit strategy and organization parameters for Industry 4.0.

 It can come out with technology gap list.
 It can come up with employee skill gap list
 It can draw a roadmap from current level to aimed level (Time bound)
 It can work out investment plan and ROI

Stakeholder and own Business processes in Scope for industry 4.0.

While planning for Industry 4.0, a company needs not only to study and revisit its own state
of preparedness but that of all the stakeholders. The 5 main stakeholders are:

 Suppliers
 Inhouse operations (Plan to make & all supporting services)
 Subcontracted services including logistics
 Dealers/Distributors/Retailors
 Customer facing operations/Customers
Business Processes in scope -Industry 4.0
The notion that this only applies to Shop floor or Manufacturing is not correct. The industry
4.0 attempts cyber physical systems along with other technologies for end to end processes,
spanning across stakeholders.
The Main processes (Ref: APICS) which will need to be covered includes

• Develop Vision and Strategy

• Develop and Manage Products and Services
• Market and Sell Products and Services
• Deliver Products and Services
• Manage Customer Service
• Develop and Manage Human Capital
• Manage Information Technology
• Manage Financial Resources
• Manage Environmental Health and Safety (EHS)
• Manage Knowledge, Improvements, and Change
Current challenges in implementing industry 4.0.

 Biggest challenge to start the journey towards industry 4.0 is the review of current
stalk of technology, carry out readiness assessment and coming out with a roadmap
for industry 4.0. This does not mean that companies are not preparing strategies and
the roadmap, however the inhouse skills and knowledge is becoming a constraint in
many cases.
 Making a strong business case, where the readiness level for industry 4.0 is also
becoming a challenge. In such cases huge investments in replacing existing
machines, equipment’s, processes and change management is emerging as a
challenge.
 Biggest challenge with both inhouse and SI vendor/consulting companies is
unavailability of trained and experienced professionals in new genre of technology.
This is emerging as a handicap in understanding the total picture and forming a long-
term vision, strategy and roadmap.
 Isolated initiatives in the form of a pilot or POC are going on at many places. Though
they may be one of the part of industry 4.0 technologies, it is more knee jerk
reaction than a planned roadmap and attempt to slowly move to Industry 4.0 over a
period of 3-4 years. Such isolated initiatives are both a risk and protentional business
disruptions.
 Some of the technologies under industry 4.0 basket are still evolving. The open
source protocols though are compatibles with most of the technologies, there are
technical issues reported in synchronous communications.
 The diversity among suppliers and vendors with respect to technology available and
their financial ability to invest in any new technology is also coming as one of the
challenge.
 Some of the operations in the manufacturing chain or supply chain have been in
manual mode due to various reasons. Automating them requires new investment.
The activities involved are manual packaging, putting protecting layers and so on. It
hardly makes sense in investing in automation as these jobs are done quite cheaply
on contract basis.

…………… End of part 3 of 4……………………………………………………………….

Note: The opinions in the article is solely of the author and has nothing to do with the
employer. The author does not endorse any product, model or technology. References and
examples are given for understanding. The images used in the document are free images
from the internet.,