Industry 4.0 is built on 9 technology pillars. These advancements bridge the digital and physical worlds and make autonomous and smart systems possible. These technologies coupled with Industry 4.0 can lead to entirely new services and products. 

The use of portable devices and sensors, robotics, and analysis will allow improvements in products in numerous ways, from creating tests and prototypes to the integration of connectivity to previously disconnected.

Now that we know the importance, let’s look at the nine pillars of industry 4.0.

Why is Industry 4.0 so Important?

Understanding the Fourth Industrial Revolution is crucial as it significantly impacts manufacturing processes and extends its influence across all industries and sectors. Industry 4.0 has the potential to enhance revenue growth, business operations, and transform supply chains, products, and customer expectations. This transformation is expected to modify traditional practices, leading to the development of entirely new services and products. The integration of portable devices, sensors, robotics, and analysis will bring about improvements in various aspects of product development and connectivity, revolutionizing manufacturing processes and capabilities. 

To delve deeper into the transformative potential of Industry 4.0, it’s essential to explore its core technological pillars, which form the foundation of this revolutionary advancement.

The Nine Pillars of Industry 4.0

Read on below to discover the Nine Pillars of Industry 4.0 – Transforming Manufacturing.

Pillar #1: Big Data and Analytics

Big data analytics is becoming integral for companies to optimize manufacturing and business processes in the Industry 4.0 landscape. The goal is to uncover trends, patterns and relationships between inputs, processes and outputs that drive concrete improvements across production platforms, equipment servicing, and energy savings. 

For instance, semiconductor leader Infineon Technologies significantly reduced product failures by correlating testing phase chip data later in production with wafer status data from early fabrication stages. This big data analysis allowed Infineon to rapidly pinpoint problematic patterns and reject defective chips sooner, thereby boosting quality. 

Overall, comprehensively gathering and evaluating data from diverse manufacturing and organizational systems enables more informed real-time decision-making to enhance productivity, prevent errors, and reduce waste. Industry 4.0 marks a new era where big data analytics becomes integral, rather than supplementary, to driving operational excellence.

Pillar #2: Augmented Reality

Augmented reality technology, made popular by gaming apps like Pokémon Go, overlays digital imagery onto the real world. For example, IKEA introduced an augmented reality app that lets customers visualize how furniture would fit and look in a room based on size, color, and other data. 

This allows shoppers to trial products digitally before purchase. Similarly, manufacturers could harness augmented reality to demonstrate concepts or prototypes to clients without expensive physical models. Rather than creating multiple physical iterations, companies can adapt digital renderings to showcase design changes, material options, and functionality. 

By providing immersive previews, augmented reality enables businesses to gather customer feedback while avoiding excessive manufacturing costs of physical copies early in the development process.

Pillar #3: Autonomous Systems/Robots

Autonomous technologies are allowing machines and robots to operate with increasing independence in Industry 4.0. These technologies enable systems to sense, think, act and react without constant human direction after initial programming. Control systems even allow determining autonomous behaviors remotely. Autonomy enables quicker reactions, more flexibility, and 24/7 productivity without human presence. For example, autonomous inspection drones can monitor facilities, perform routine equipment checks, and flag anomalies without operator guidance. 

These drones free up human resources for higher-level responsibilities. Autonomous freight vehicles are another innovation in this space. They offer logistics solutions that potentially reduce costs and delivery times. By integrating autonomous technologies, manufacturers can enhance competitiveness, productivity, safety and profitability. The future of automation includes seamless human-machine collaboration, where autonomous systems handle routine and hazardous tasks, while humans focus on innovation, creativity and managing exceptions.

Pillar #4: Internet of Things

The Industrial Internet of Things is central to Industry 4.0, with the terms used interchangeably. This reflects manufacturing environments where all devices, machinery, and products are networked using embedded sensors and computing. These connected physical assets provide real-time performance, condition and location data. 

This connectivity unlocks significant benefits, including smoother supply chains, rapid production modifications, accelerated product design, enhanced consumer responsiveness, minimized downtime, and streamlined inventory and tracking. 

For example, Bosch Rexroth outfitted a valve production facility with a decentralized, semi-automated process where workstations adapt operations based on each product’s identification code and required manufacturing steps. Overall, networked intelligent devices enable self-optimized manufacturing, where systems communicate to dynamically adjust for maximum quality, efficiency and flexibility with minimal manual oversight. This is the promise of Industry 4.0 – leveraging data and connectivity for responsive, resilient and self-correcting production environments that surpass traditional boundaries. The Industrial Internet of Things makes this possible across all scales and sectors of manufacturing.

Pillar #5: Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is having a transformative impact in Industry 4.0. This novel technique builds components layer-by-layer from digital 3D design data by depositing materials like metals or polymers. Benefits include reduced material waste, lightweight yet durable components, complex geometries impossible through traditional methods, and highly customized production. For instance, aerospace manufacturers are adopting 3D printing for lighter aircraft parts by printing optimized shapes impossible to machine subtractively from a block of metal. 

By eliminating hollow spaces that add no structural value, 3D printed parts like brackets and mounts shed excess weight. This enables lighter, faster aircraft that consume less fuel. Beyond aerospace, sectors from medical devices to automotive to consumer products are implementing 3D printing for on-demand production, simplified inventories and supply chains, and unlocking new design possibilities.

Pillar #6: Digital Twin/Simulation

The digital twin, a key concept in Industry 4.0, involves creating a virtual replica of a physical asset, process, or system. This comprehensive digital model is linked to its real-world counterpart through data from installed sensors and internet-connected technologies. By reflecting the near real-time status, condition, and performance of machines, production lines, or entire plants, digital twins enable in-depth analysis, insights, and optimizations. They allow companies to identify stressed components before breakdowns, explore «what-if» scenarios, predict failures, and test control adjustments safely. 

Digital twins can also model specific products to enhance customer maintenance procedures and help operators identify potential bottlenecks in a virtual layout of the facility. With sufficient fidelity, digital twins can move organizations towards prescriptive maintenance, zero-defect manufacturing, and autonomous adaptation in smart factories. 

The digital andon module from Shoplogix, a leading provider of smart manufacturing solutions, integrates with digital twin technology to provide real-time visibility into production line status, enabling manufacturers to quickly identify and respond to issues, ultimately driving operational excellence.

Pillar #7: Cyber Security

The Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing enable smart manufacturing, but also open cyber security risks that must be addressed proactively. Manufacturers must safeguard sensitive intellectual property, customer data, production schedules, and proprietary information from potential attacks. Robust protections require multilayered strategies spanning network security, access controls, encryption, monitoring and planning.

With numerous connected devices and global data flows, tailored cyber security is crucial for Industry 4.0 systems. This includes controller updates, strong authentication procedures, backups, and rapid vulnerability patching. Dedicating personnel and actively monitoring threats across IT/OT infrastructure also adds protection.

Pillar #8: Cloud Computing

Which brings us directly to cloud computing. Cloud computing enables the responsive, flexible production environments of Industry 4.0. This network architecture utilizes remote servers, rather than local devices, to store, manage and process manufacturing data. Migrating to the cloud unlocks scaled versatility not possible with on-premise servers – especially for big data analytics and utilization. Companies can rapidly prototype leveraging flexible cloud infrastructure, while teams worldwide collaborate with real-time data access. 

Supply chain optimizations happen through instant information sharing across sites and logistics providers via cloud integration. By moving computation capabilities off-site yet connecting them to the physical factory, manufacturers gain speed, savings and security needed to compete. Most importantly, cloud infrastructure allows focus to remain on innovating with data rather than maintaining servers.

Pillar #9: System Integration

Systems integration fundamentally enables the optimized production of Industry 4.0. This approach seamlessly interconnects disparate factory equipment, sensors, software platforms and more to coordinate as a unified whole. Machines can share real-time performance data rather than operate in isolation. Integrating supply chain programs with inventory robots and logistics vehicles allows automated material replenishment. 

Predictive maintenance leverages historical telemetry and upcoming production schedules for fuller insights. Operator dashboards condense data from multiple integrated sources to optimize overall equipment effectiveness. While implementation is challenging, the sophistication and agility gains make systems integration worthwhile. 

Final Thoughts

The nine pillars of industry 4.0 outlined above collectively enable the responsive, efficient and innovative production environments embodying Industry 4.0. While implementing these advanced technologies poses challenges, the sophistication and agility gains make the effort worthwhile. 

As a leading provider of smart manufacturing software, Shoplogix offers an integrated Smart Factory Suite to help manufacturers on their Industry 4.0 journey. By connecting disparate systems, optimizing processes with real-time data, and providing plant-wide visibility and control, Shoplogix paves the path towards next-generation intelligent and autonomous facilities. 

With solutions tailored across discrete, process and hybrid industries, manufacturers can leverage Shoplogix’s expertise and specialized platform to accelerate their digital transformation.