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ケーススタディ/Case study

INDUSTRY 4.0 – The 4
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Industrial Revolution Reshaping

the Manufacturing Sector

The latest advances in information technology have created a big impact on every sector and will completely
change manufacturing worldwide. This drastic change is leading the world industry into the 4 industrial
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revolution otherwise known as Industry 4.0.

The Emergence of Industry 4.0 The second industrial revolution came in the late 1800s
when they applied electrical energy, new labor-concepts
Industry 4.0 was first introduced to the world in 2011 and the first production lines had appeared on the scene.
by the German government to advance the integration The third one was not so long ago: about forty years
of production with information and communication ago everything was about automation after the first
technologies. In such context, digitalization, automation, PLC was invented. Now comes the 4 revolution with
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human-machine interaction as well as better networked the emergence of 5G which has created the Internet of
production systems play an important role. Things (IoT) and Big Data.

The basic objective of Industry 4.0 is for manufacturing Key Considerations
companies to benefit from the progress already achieved
and expected in the near future in Information and For a factory or system to be considered Industry 4.0,
Communication Technology (ICT). Industry 4.0 will rely it must include;
heavily on the progress of wireless communication
technologies with major global telecommunication • Interoperability — machines, devices, sensors and
companies such as Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens and people that connect and communicate with one
IBM currently developing 5G networks to achieve another.
significantly faster speeds. The new development will • Information transparency — systems that create a
impact the manufacturing sector not only on sensors and virtual copy of the physical world through sensor
machines within a factory but for more industrial sites data in order to contextualize information.
to be connected to each other. For instance, an event • Technical assistance — the ability of systems
occurring in a plant in Europe will be able to modify and to support humans in making decisions and solving
improve the process of another plant in Japan. problems and the ability to assist with tasks that
are too difficult or unsafe for humans.
The Journey of the 1 to the 4 Industrial Revolution • Decentralized decision-making — the ability of
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cyber-physical systems to make simple decisions
The essence of all revolutions in the past has been to on their own and become as autonomous as
implement a whole new technology in industries making possible.
processes faster and safer, better products and increases
in yield. During the first revolution in the 18 century the There are also challenges that manufacturers face;
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big change was the invention of mechanical production
facilities which were driven by water and steam and was • Data security issues are greatly increased by
when the first steam engine was introduced. integrating new systems along with more access
to those systems.

22 Asia Pacific Plant Management