There is a very low probability that you have heard or read this term anywhere. But if you are a technical student, this is one of the most important terms for you and you will hear this term, if not anywhere then in an interview. And i really don't want you to gasp as soon as you hear this term and start panicking .
So as the name suggests its related to the industry and that is what matters because the study, degree, training , all of it is for the industry. But what exactly is this Industry? Give a thought to this word and a group of buildings with big banners or a group of factories pop up in your mind .
The whole ecosystem of different companies , product based or service based together is referred to as the Industry. It has sub definitions like film Industry, Textile industry, Automobile industry, etc.. .This ecosystem is what driving the modern society that we are living in, Industry provides us products, services, and Jobs.
History time : )
It started around 1760 when the continuous researches done by the human race resulted in some good inventions like the legendary Steam Engine. The textile industry was the leading one to drop the old manual techniques and quickly adapt to the new methods of production,etc.
Slowly the whole industry adopted the new methods and this sudden increase in speed caused a great leap in overall world economics (Highly Britain) this was called the Industrial Revolution. Later again the introduction of IC engine and Hydraulics caused a big boost again, it was called the Second Industrial Revolution. The industry after this revolution was referred to as the Industry 2.0. Then came Computers and again changed the industry to Industry 3.0. And finally the evolution of the latest technologies like better computers, wireless communication, internet, IoT (Internet of Things) , IIOT, Automation, etc. changed the industry to Industry 4.0.
What does it mean?
Now all the companies all around are implementing the new technologies in order to increase the efficiency of the overall system.
Industry 4.0 harnesses the power of Automation and Robotics to boost the hardware capabilities and use IoT, IIOT, cloud computing and data science to boost the software capabilities of the system.
How Does It Work?
Imagine a textile factory , let's see what are the processes and steps involved.
Cotton is sorted
Cotton is made into threads
Threads is fed into spindle to make cloth
The cloth is bleached and treated with chemicals
The treated cloth then is resized
The cloth go through quality testing and is sorted based on quality
All of these processes involve heavy machinery and well as large manpower to operate the machines. Humans make error ,different kind of errors and also the we have a limited speed.
Now implement the concepts of industry 4.0 in the same factory.
IoT is used to interconnect all the machines together and maintain them from a single control point.
IIOT gathers data and maintains the machine efficiency by predicting need of maintainable, problems in the machine.
Cloud Computing to used to ensure the best possible quality of the product.
Automation is used to physically ensure that all the machines are interconnected and are working on its own with needing a human operator.
*Actual processes and implementation is different ,this is a sample to create an understanding.
As machines can work tirelessly and accurately the production quantity and quality both increases.
*Note that the power consumption increases very much but need of man power decreases.
And that is how industry 4.0 works, now there can many different ways to implement a solution. For example a program to manage quality can be of different types, slower ,faster, more accurate, less accurate, customisable, etc. It all depends on you and how good you are at what you do. If you are an IoT expert the industry will pay you as high as your efficiency and accuracy is.
Industrial revolution is a continuous process and a technology becomes old as fast as it was created , so keep updated by reading daily feeds.
There are endless possibilities and infinite ways to redeem those, you just have to work in the right way.
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