INDUSTRY 4.0: HOW TO FACE IT!

THE BASIC QUESTION FOR TOP MANAGERS IS: HOW TO EXPLORE THE NUMEROUS ALTERNATIVES AND TO START EVALUATING THEM? THE SIMPLEST ANSWER IS TO HAVE A “HELICOPTER VIEW” OF THE SITUATION AND AVOID WASTING TIME IN LEARNING TOO MANY DETAILS! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, I AM READY FOR A BRAINSTORMING ON THIS SUBJECT WITH INDUSTRY LEADERS INTERESTED. (Pls use the contact form at the top right )

 

 Click here for all my posts that concern Industry 4.0

This is the fourth industrial revolution, defined 4.0 for the first time in Germany in 2011, the key aspect of which lies in the transformation of the industry into a new reality, to achieve the complete digitalization of production and business.

In the current technological landscape, Industry 4.0 applies new tools, because the traditional ones are no longer adequate to solve the current complexities.

The push to upgrade to Industry 4.0 is necessary because without all the new technologies it will be impossible to be competitive.

As an example, in an article published recently in the United States, it is highlighted that 90% of companies on the "Fortune 500" list have problems that can only be effectively solved with the computing power of quantum computing, a future component in the industry 4.0 evolution.

A problem arises of how a non-specialist decision-maker can evaluate which path to choose and to know all the possible options. Well, it may seem absurd, but today it is much simpler than in the 70s and 80s: today, in fact, the Internet exists!

That said, it does not mean that a general manager must stay at the computer all day, surf the Internet, and get information. Absolutely not! In my years, if in the company I felt the need to experiment with applications to solve our problems, we had to buy a computer by paying millions of dollars and tying ourselves to a supplier for years! Today it is possible to experiment almost for free with the most interesting algorithms for my company and develop Industry 4.0 applications, accessing infinitely large computing capacities via the Internet and see, or rather ask the technician, how much and if they work.

My only decision today would be to choose the cloud providers and only much later to decide whether to buy hardware and software, a great advantage over past years!

As a “decision-maker”, however, I need to know what exists, when, and what to ask the technical departments to experiment. To do this, there is no need to study quantum mechanics!

In the 1980s we could experiment with some algorithm on a Personal Computer and evaluate its extension on an exorbitantly expensive mainframe: only in this way could it be possible to operate on a sufficiently large database, not digestible by a PC.

Today a similar problem, for example, the use of Deep Learning with Big Data using Python-like languages, can be developed on a classic computer, and tested by uploading it on a quantum computer active in a cloud: a nice advantage for today's management, which I deeply envy!

Business decision-makers, as in the past, must devote their time to understand the market for their products or services and let their technicians’ experiment, now facilitated by the Internet, and get informed by reading those who have as much free time as me and are in possession of an “helicopter view” of both history and present technologies.