Page 20 - Steel Tech India eMagazine Volume April 2020

VOL. 14 • NO. 3 • April 2020

Journey to the Future of Industrial Manufacturing
— through Industry 4.0

*Sanjay Guhathakurta
IBM India, INDIA

INTRODUCTION The 4th Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) – brings the
What is Industry 4.0? power of the internet at shop-floor levels, and bridges
Industry 4.0 (derived from the German term Industrie the gap between digital and physical systems, and thus
4.0) is a German govt. sponsored vision for advanced gives rise to the term “Cyber-Physical systems” (CPS).
manufacturing initiated in 2012. It aims to create a digital The German manufacturing industry views the Industry
convergence between industry, business, and internal 4.0 framework in three broad areas shown in Figure 1.
functions by connecting smart production facilities. How can the steel industry leverage industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 is the 4th step in a journey spanning 200 to derive more productivity?
years.
Between the 1960s and 1990s, the Manufacturing
The 1st Industrial Revolution – saw the invention of industry saw strong productivity gains with innovative
steam engines and the usage of steam power in the techniques like Just-In-Time manufacturing (Toyota),
mechanization of manufacturing. lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma creating impact.
The 2nd Industrial Revolution – arrived with the However, under current conditions, the growth in
invention of electricity and its applicability in running annual productivity levels lie below 2%.
assembly lines for mass production. At the same time, the past two decades have seen

The 3rd Industrial Revolution – saw industrial automation growth in innovations around technology by leaps and
through the usage of IT and robotics in manufacturing, bounds. The only constant around technology has
automated production lines, and global supply chains. been change itself. The challenge posed to technology,

Fig.1: Industry 4.0 framework in the German manufacturing industry

(Source: Recommendations for implementing the strategic initiative INDUSTRIE 4.0,
final report of the Industries 4.0 Working Group)

18 Steel tech