Digitising the industrial supply chain

Since then, the term has been variously described as the Forth Industrial Revolution, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Smart Factories and Smart Manufacturing.  Regardless of the description you choose to use, it’s fundamentally about the digitalisation and inter-connection of systems and processes to create an environment where high quality data can be gathered in real time, analysed and used to make intelligent and automated decisions to improve the quality, consistency and flexibility of production operations within a broader, interconnected business.

The initial take-up of I4.0 was relatively slow, due primarily to factors such as a lack of suitable technology, the challenges of adapting existing production systems, availability of appropriate investment, and a natural resistance to adopting new technologies until they had been fully tried and tested.  There was also, as is often the case with new ideas or technologies, a fair degree of hype, which in the early days inevitably deterred many companies from entering the I4.0 arena. 

In recent years, however, the adoption of I4.0 technology has accelerated, with an increasing number of companies developing the vision to implement business-wide I4.0 strategies, together with the funding mechanisms, skills and physical resources.  For many companies, the process often starts with a small or self-contained project – perhaps the upgrade of a particular production line – to test the process and act as a model from which to scale-up across the business.

Supply chain integration

In the industrial sector, the focus to date has predominately been on developing strategies and programmes that make each company or business unit I4.0 ready.  Essentially, this has been inward-looking with minimal consideration of the vertical integration of the business with customers or suppliers.

This situation is now gradually changing, as manufacturing companies look for ways of improving the service they provide to their customers, while building more resilient supply chains, with greater visibility at all points in the supply, production and delivery process.