Industry 4.0 Finds New Synergies with a Combination of Diverse Technologies (.PDF Download)

When talking about the history of technology, it’s common to group manufacturing operations into four loosely defined “industrial revolutions” that gradually replaced human- and horse-power with increasing levels of mechanization. The first stage of mechanization relied on power from water and steam; stage two introduced electrical power, mass production, and the assembly line; and computers and automation characterized stage three.

We’re now well into the fourth stage, often called Industry 4.0. It builds on stage three by adding robotic technologies, massive data-gathering courtesy of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and cloud computing with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) (Fig. 1).