It helps manufacturers with current challenges by becoming more flexible and

making reacting to changes in the market easier. It can increase the speed of
innovation and is very consumer centered, leading to faster design processes.

Workers can become coordinators at the center of production, possibly improving the
work-life balance of employees. Industry 4.0 is sustainable long-term, assisting in
finding solutions for any challenge that arises.

So, why Industry 4.0? Because we can help you incorporate it, and all of these
benefits, into your current manufacturing, leading you into a sustainable and
profitable future.

1. It eases current challenges for manufacturers.

In a world of increasing market volatility, shorter product life cycles, higher product
complexity, and global supply chains, companies are seeking to become more
flexible and responsive to business trends. The Industry 4.0 vision provides
recommendations how companies can ease these challenges: The digitalization of
the whole product lifecycle will allow companies to use data from production, service,
and social media which will lead to faster product improvements. Smart items will
bring stronger integration of top floor and shop floor and thus more intelligence and
flexibility to production. With these technologies, companies can react faster to
demand changes and implement new configurations easier or even re-plan
production much faster.

2. It leads to an innovation economy.

Digital chains will not only improve efficiency but also speed up innovations as new
business models can be implemented much faster (see Industry 4.0 Leads Into The
Innovation Economy). Here are two examples how Industry 4.0 speeds up
innovations: 1. Manufacturers can generate new business by sharing equipment or
selling capacity they don’t need on marketplaces. 2. Thanks to sensors and
connectivity, products will be enriched by services (such as predictive maintenance)
or even transformed into services. An engine manufacturer might not sell engines
anymore in the future but provide them as a service to customers. He then would
only charge the power of the engines the customer uses.

3. It puts the consumer in the center of all activities.

Today’s consumers demand individually made products and services (“Made-for-

Me”). Smart items, products and machines will enable manufacturers to get down to
lot size one and produce customized products without extra cost. Digitalization will
lead to an easier crowd sourcing which will lead to a faster design process.

4. It even puts humans into the center of production.

As machines are becoming smarter, the work in production lines will be enriched and
humanized. Simple manual tasks will disappear. Workers will become coordinators
who ensure a smooth production and only intervene when a machine calls for action.
Flexibility will be a key success factor. Workers will be assigned where help is
needed. This will place higher demands in terms of managing complexity, problem-
solving and self-organization, but also allow the work force to become more flexible.
Fixed shifts per day will be complemented by dynamic and self-organized capacity
planning that takes employees’ preferences into consideration. This will improve the
life-work-balance of all employees and allow shorter response time to a changed
order situation.

5. It will enable sustainable prosperity.

The old models of industrialization run out: Economies and with it societies
increasingly recognize the risks of globalization, job losses and resource shortages.
Generating profit and realizing growth have to be put into a more long-term
perspective, for example by finding ways to cope with constraints on energy,
resources, environment, and social and economic impacts. Industry 4.0 can help to
find solutions to these challenges. If it is smart and innovative, production can reduce
energy consumption, help companies to sustain their business with existing and new
business models and use new technologies to produce all over the world (even at
high cost locations) close to the markets and at the tact of the workers.