Making sense of data & Industry 4.0

Industry 1.0 started with Mechanization, getting a steam engine, water wheel or other technology to do the work of humans and animals. These machines did not tire, they did not need pampering and they ran on cheap coal or free waterpower. wonderful! - inhumane levels of toil were replaced by a machine that needed a more educated operator - in many cases low paying jobs were replaced with higher paying jobs, made possible by increased productivity. Now there were new industries that needed skilled people to build and maintain these machines as well as workers to expand on the technology by designing new machines. 

Steam engines required Mechanical automation to keep them running - levers cams, flywheels, and valves all working with precision so that the machine did the task of opening and closing its own steam valves to keep it running. 

Industry 2.0 started with organizing the machinery and the people in a way that took advantage of the repetitive task, and parts that were duplicated with such precision that they were interchangeable. The production line was born. Each person and each machine was organized in a way that allowed the building a a car for example in a matter of days instead of months. and once that production line started, a car came off the line every few minutes. Again, the role of the worker changed. Skilled labor was required, and the toil of the worker was reduced. 

Was this also the beginning of machines working with people (or people working with machines?) Was there collaboration way back then? Maybe, but it was extremely dangerous by today's standards. 

Industry 3.0 gave us machines that  could work by themselves. The Integrated circuit promised  and delivered vast computing power in an ever decreasing package size. This computing technology, programmability and communication, gave us Automation by where repetitive tasks could be duplicated over and over with great accuracy. Eventually this could be done without worker intervention. Another boost to productivity. This was also a boost in the level of knowledge required by the worker. This revolution was deemed as Evil machines stealing jobs. When the reality was, those jobs were going overseas. it took us another 30 years of losing those jobs to realize that Automation was the secret to bringing the jobs back. 

could we have skipped the whole China thing if we had embraced automation technology in heavy industry  in the 70's? Did we do a disservice to our workers in the USA? 

Industry 4.0 is here, we see it all over in Industry, in our homes, and all around us. Smart systems like Smart Speakers that seem to learn how to better communicate with us and perform tasks like controlling lights, thermostats, cameras, security systems, as well as ordering pizza or laundry detergent. yet another level of mundane tasks are taken over by a seemingly smart device. 

Communication, Smart software, the Internet, The Internet of things (IOT),  The Industrial Internet of things (IIOT), and collaboration between all technologies is bringing us to the next level. 

Software working with Hardware, working with machine operators, working with Engineers, working with Designers, working with software..... What if you downloaded a model of a part, and it came with all the tools necessary to implement the part in your design? What about being able to test your design in a virtual model of the production facility? Siemens has the digital twin that does exactly that! Every other supplier of Automation and computing equipment has their hand in this technology. What is the promise? 

• Quicker to market
• Little or no startup / commissioning issues.
• Little or no product design flaws
• lower implementation costs
• And the worker wins again - repetitive tasks and duplicated efforts are removed from the equation.  

What makes this possible?

• Proliferation of the internet and high speed communication.
• Technology
• Interchangeable data (remember the interchangeable parts?) - When Data is portable across different platforms it becomes much more useful. 

Industry 5.0 - This is where machines make machines and humans are no longer involved - the machines will eventually take over and exterminate us all! or will we all just be assimilated into the Borg collective?