In part two of the Industry 4.0 blog series let’s look at a few of the great benefits of adoption. More and more companies are increasingly adopting strategic approaches around digital transformation. The benefits of leaning in to new digital tools build on each other to yield undeniable outcomes for companies that successfully execute these strategies. 

Industry 4.0 – Visibility 

With highly connected devices and a vast amount of data within arm’s reach, the modern factory becomes visible in ways it never could before. Real time monitoring and big data analysis puts this all front and center for everyone from top level executive to factory floor worker, at any time. 

Better Predictability 

Industry 4.0 allows for the individual worker and the company to have greater accuracy in predicting everything from when a piece of equipment will require maintenance or manufacturing ingredients are running low, to shipment tracking, to future cost and revenue prediction. It also allows for companies to test alternative approaches through predictive modeling. 

Higher Efficiency and Quality 

Predictability leads to the chance of human error, equipment degradation, supply shortages and shipment delays being greatly reduced. The outcomes of predictive modeling approaches allow for adoption of change and improvement without the risk of costly live production testing. Overall, adopting Industry 4.0 will lead to increased productivity. 

Lower Costs with Industry 4.0

All these things provide positive returns by lowering the operational cost of the business. For example, being able to monitor and predict when a piece of equipment will require servicing will save significant costs compared to it breaking down, needing to be replaced and ruining the batch in progress.  

Industry 4.0 Brings Higher Profitability 

The natural conclusion of course then, is that if productivity, quality and efficiency increase, while costs go down, it follows that revenue and especially profitability will go up. Certainly, there is a cost to adoption of Industry 4.0 strategies, but as the report referenced in part 1 of this blog series explains, the return on investment time has been decreasing dramatically in recent years. 

There are undoubtedly other benefits to consider as well, the above list is not meant to be exhaustive. In part 3 of our Industry 4.0 blog series, we’ll give some consideration to risks and challenges that you need to consider. 

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