Industry 4.0 is currently gaining rapid momentum within sectors such as manufacturing, as many are promising that the outcome for early adopters will be the reaping of more rewards. However, is early adoption of Industry 4.0 without any conclusive result completely risk free? Will the 4th industrial revolution prove true and well?

Manufacturers currently face the problem of consistency, being able to make better products much more efficiently. The cost for running these machines are one of the reasons why companies want to adopt Industry 4.0 as soon as they can, hoping it will provide the ultimate solution. Research shows us that the cost of repair work and warranty claims can range between 5-30% of the total revenue, with the majority falling between 10-20%. This is profit loss, and companies are losing their value as well as their brand loyalty from customers. This is the problem that needs to be addressed.

The cost of downtime also reduces revenue. When machines break and need to be fixed, the business slows down. This may seem like a small problem, but when you can cut down your company’s downtime cost, the benefits to the bottom line of the supply chain will hugely improve. If you put your figures into perspective, your company can be making a 10% + profit which is a huge amount. This can help in saving resource and time, maintaining and increasing margins, and investing in your new products and services. It’s a winning ticket.

So how will Industry 4.0 help the production process?

The technologies involved with Industry 4.0 collect factory data and analyze insights for manufacturers to quickly identify the root cause of problems which may lead to poor machine performance and downtime. In order to set up Industry 4.0, companies must set up the database that enables collection, storage and analytics. IoT devices that are constantly gathering data and using cloud storage are the perfect way to solve this problem.

To conclude, there is no real race towards implementation of Industry 4.0, but rather how much importance do you put on Industry 4.0 for the betterment of your business. Do you want to invest in machine learning to help improve your business profits and drive quality and performance? Do you feel like you can keep your business traditional while majority of your competitors embrace innovation?