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3.6 Four Aspects in your Business to Master IoT 185
3.6.3.2 Connected industry
The Internet of Things in production and logistics is coined with the term
“Industrie 4.0” in Germany. Industrie 4.0 is paving the way for a social and
technological revolution that will drastically change the entire industrial landscape.
Why 4.0? As since the 18th century, when the first Industrial Revolution
began, it is the fourth wave of major technological changes. Industry 4.0 is a
sophisticated approach changing the entire global value chain: communication,
planning, logistics and production.
The German industry, academia, associations, and unions compiled a
report on how this transformation can be achieved:
“Industrie 4.0 holds huge potential. Smart factories allow
individual customer requirements to be met and mean that
even one-off items can be manufactured profitably. In Industrie
4.0, dynamic business and engineering processes enable
last-minute changes to production and deliver the ability to
respond flexibly to disruptions and failures on behalf of suppliers,
for example. End-to-end transparency is provided over
the manufacturing process, facilitating optimised decisionmaking.
Industrie 4.0 will also result in new ways of creating
value and novel business models. In particular, it will provide
start-ups and small businesses with the opportunity to
develop and provide downstream services. In addition, Industrie
4.0 will address and solve some of the challenges facing
the world today such as resource and energy efficiency, urban
production and demographic change. Industrie 4.0 enables
continuous resource productivity and efficiency gains to be
delivered across the entire value network. It allows work to
be organised in a way that takes demographic change and
social factors into account. Smart assistance systems release
workers from having to perform routine tasks, enabling them
to focus on creative, value-added activities. In view of the
impending shortage of skilled workers, this will allow older
workers to extend their working lives and remain productive
for longer. Flexible work organisation will enable worker to
combine their work, private lives and continuing professional