Through the ages, human progress has been closely intertwined with the ability to develop innovative solutions to producing the items we consume and utilize. The stone and metal age saw our ancestors produce goods by hand and through the help of domesticated animals but by the 18th century, things were to change dramatically for the better.
The discovery of fluid mechanics and its innovative applications would change industrial efforts forever. Thus, leading to the first industrial age. Since then, newer innovations have been developed leading us to Industry 4.0 and the smart factory. Here, an overview highlighting the landmarks of each industrial age will be provided.
Industry 1.0
The development of the steam engine in the 16th and 17th century paved the way for the introduction of mechanical production facilities and the first industrial age. By the 18th century, commercial steam engines where produced which specifically provided users with a continuous supply of power which effectively relegated handwork to the background. With the invention of steam engines providing continuous energy, Industry 1.0 began and man could produce items in large volumes to sell to more customers. Notable milestones in the 1st Industrial age include:
- The first commercial steam-powered device which was Thomas Savery’s water pump.
- Thomas Newcomen continuous powered steam engine which introduced the transmission of continuous power.
- Edmund Cartwright developed the steam-powered loom which supported industrial or mass production.
Industry 2.0
Like the invention of steam engines kick-started the first Industrial age, the invention of a more stable and continuous power source led to the 2nd Industrial age known as Industry 2.0. In this case, the discovery of electricity led to innovative industrial efforts which are still utilized to this day.
Industry 2.0 began early in the 20th century with the development of machines running on electricity. Before that, the work of inventors such as Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Michael Faraday led to the harnessing of electricity to power machines. As the electric-powered machine gained prominence, the tenets of lean manufacturing where been developed by Frederick Taylor and put into practice by Henry Ford. The introduction and standardization of the assembly line was also a major milestone of Industry 2.0 including:
- The invention of the electric motor by Michael Faraday in 1821.
- The standardization of assembly lines or the production line by Henry Ford.
- The application of lean manufacturing practices within Toyota facilities to optimize production processes.
Industry 3.0
The next industrial revolution which resulted in Industry 3.0 was brought about and spurred by advances in the electronics industry and the introduction of industrial automation to the factory floor. The final decades of the 20th century witnessed the development of the first automated injection molding machine which opened the world to the possibilities of industrial automation.
The need for automated machinery led to advancements in the electronics components and device industry because specialized hardware was needed to build these machines. Thus, technologies such as the programmable logo controller, printed circuit boards etc. were developed to build more efficient equipment and reduce human involvement in the manufacturing process.
The strides made in developing electronic and production machine hardware and the need for automation led to improvements in developing software applications to monitor and control industrial activities. Thus, the information age powered by the internet was leveraged during Industry 3.0 to build custom software and platforms for managing the production process. Platforms built include enterprise resource management, supply chain, and simulation modeling applications. Notable milestones of the third industrial age include:
- The invention of the programmable logic controller in the 1960s.
- The application of interconnected computer networks to industrial pursuits in the 1980s
Industry 4.0
The boom in the Internet and telecommunication industry in the 1990s revolutionized the way we connected and exchanged information thus ushering in the information age. With advances in telecommunication and increased network coverage came the next paradigm shift in the manufacturing industry currently called – Industry 4.0.
The tenets of Industry 4.0 hinges on blurring the lines between the physical and virtual worlds, enabling a ‘lights out’ factory with less human operators and more automation, and improving safety in industrial facilities. Industry 4.0 is defined by Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) which enable machine-to-machine, machine-to-device, and human-to-machine communication. CPSs allows industrial machines to communicate intelligently with one another and the production environment without the limitations placed by physical or geographical barriers.
Industry 4.0 leverages industrial data. Cyber-Physical Systems capture data and analyze data to provide insight into specific industrial processes, drive automation, and enable factory equipment and operators to take specific actions. In 2011, a German research group headed by Siegfried Dais of Robert Bosch GmbH, coined the phrase Industrie 4.0 and introduced a working framework for its actualization. The framework highlighted the importance of an interconnected environment driven by smart equipment sharing data and a decentralized decision-making process. This framework could then be applied to specific use cases such as predictive maintenance, data-driven plant performance optimization, and data-driven machine monitoring, throughput quality control, and optimization activities.
To ensure interconnectivity powered by a centralized computing platform and decentralization could be achieved at the same time, cloud and edge computing solutions were integrated into Industry 4.0. Edge computing solutions such as the Internet of Things, sensors, smart devices, and Human-Machine interfaces support the capture and analysis of factory data at the edge thus enabling a decentralized computing environment. Cloud computing provided the flexible and Agile computing resources required to capture large data sets and monitor large scale industry 4.0 Implementations.
Today, newer technologies that expand the ability to develop cyber-physical systems exist. These include the Digital Twin which takes the data produced from the factory floor to recreate an accurate virtual replica of Industrial processes where back and forth data transfer between the Digital Twin and the physical factory occurs. The Digital Twin provides a virtual environment for evaluating production process, gaining insight into complex manufacturing processes and taking decisive actions in real-time.
As the technology-cost curve becomes steeper, rapid technology disruptions will emerge at even lower costs and revolutionize the industrial ecosystem. One example is the 5G network which was developed specifically to support interconnectivity and large data transfers in industrial facilities.
Industry 4.0 is still at its nascent stage and a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to ensure connectivity between operational technology and information technology reaches optimal performance levels. Today, 91% of industrial enterprises are investing in digital transformation technologies to ensure they remain competitive in the age of Industry 4.0 which is expected to last for a few decades.