Maintworld Magazine 4/2020

INDUSTRIAL INTERNET
Industry 4.0 …
A Practical Maintenance Perspective and
Significant Impacts on Our Maintenance
A
For many years, we
have seen the evolution
of technology and the
acceleration of digital
hybrid technologies. What
is industry 4.0 and how
will it affect our factories
in the short term?
GREG FOLTS,
Marshall Institute
I MUST FIRST CONFESS that I am not an
expert in this topic, merely an explorer on
a journey to understand more about how
practical, useful, and impending the digital
transformation will be and how this
will impact maintenance.
First, let’s look at some definitions of
Industry 4.0, the Industrial Internet of
Things (IIOT), or Digital Transformation,
specifically in an industrial sense.
When we search for definitions, we
find that Industry 4.0 is considered the
next massive change in technology that
will change society, or our industries
fundamentally. The first three industrial
revolutions (Steam Power, Mass Production,
and Digital Technology), spanned
from 1760 to 1960. The fourth industrial
revolution, currently unfolding with
many chapters yet to be written, is the
integration of digital technologies from
the third industrial revolution, into our
lives in complex interconnected ways.
One example might be a heads-up display,
originally deployed in fighter jets, migrating
to mid-level family cars. In this example
we are overlaying digital data onto our
world, to improve decision making. We
might also consider how simple services
such as “Netflix” or “Spotify” predict your
viewing/ listening preferences. Alexa or
google home translate your voice commands
into actions (turn on a light) or
internet searches. These are examples of
30 maintworld 4/2020