Industry 4.0 expected to result in a $152.31 Billion Industry 4.0 technology market by 2022.
Among these technologies were, on top of Industrial IoT which is really an essential part of the whole Industry 4.0, Logistics 4.0 and Whatnot 4.0 vision and reality, industrial robotics, cyber-security, 3D Printing, advanced human machine interfaces, Big Data, artificial intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
How much is really 4.0 here? Industrial robotics isn’t new. True, now we speak about advanced industrial robotics (whereby IoT is never too far away and we see collaborative robots too). Cyber-security isn’t new. True, there are new forms and approaches in cyber-security (e.g. in combination with AI) and there is still a lot of work regarding cyber-security in critical (infrastructure) environments where networks and the increased connectivity of IoT once more typically play a role (and the number of attacks concerning industrial systems are on the rise).
From a technological viewpoint it’s especially in the integration of various technologies that important fourth industrial revolution evolution occur and are expected
Yes, 3D Printing is relatively old. What is less new but part of the fourth industrial revolution is additive manufacturing which is broader than 3D Printing. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) promise quite some innovation in industrial transformation as do technologies this particular study didn’t look at, from digital twins and block chain to new technologies in areas such as energy, bio technologies, composites, transducers (actuators and sensors) and so forth.
However, from a technological viewpoint it’s especially in the integration of various of these technologies that important evolutions are expected. The autonomous decisions which can be made by the cyber-physical systems in Industry 4.0 in the end are a combination of several technologies. Or take the expected rise of Intelligent ERP where blockchain, AI and IoT change the face of traditional ERP.
The MES (manufacturing execution system) plays a central role in initial stages as the digital hub of information and connectivity, just as the BMS (building management system) is the digital hub of information and connectivity in smart building automation.