If you don’t sign up for the change, you’re out.

As we well know, Industry 4.0 involves the application of digital technologies in processes where the Internet of Things (IoT), interconnection, and automation facilitate autonomous management of facilities.

As a result, we achieve faster, more efficient, safer, more flexible, and lower-cost manufacturing processes. Thanks to the vast amount of connected data, we can also offer personalized services with greater adaptability to specific demands.

With digitalization, 24-hour production can be achieved, ensuring a refined, repetitive, and error-free process. Interruptions are avoided and production times can be reduced, leading to increased sales.

In short, as with previous industrial revolutions, Industry 4.0 is paving the way for new business models that bring about social, technological, and economic changes.

What are the main digital trends that allow us to have a connected industry?

Connected industry is made possible by a set of technologies that link the physical world of people and machines with the digital world. Let’s review some of the most important enablers:

Digital Twins

Digital twins are another technological innovation that consists of creating a virtual replica of a process, product, or service that simulates the behavior of its physical counterpart. Their purpose is to monitor it and analyze its reaction to specific situations to improve its efficiency and performance.

Thanks to them, it is possible to exhaustively analyze all the information we have and, when combined with AI, IoT, or Big Data solutions, allow us to control systems. This allows us to avoid problems, address new business opportunities, plan future scenarios, or customize production based on customer requirements.

Thanks to the virtual replica, we can receive immediate feedback and apply any type of correction very quickly.

Artificial Intelligence

Machines equipped with this intelligence have the ability to learn and make decisions based on their experience. They provide a level of productivity and efficiency that has not been achieved until now in the industrial sector’s value chain.

Without a doubt, it is the most important enabling technology. Together with machine learning, equipment self-learns and can be applied to predictive maintenance to correct malfunctions.

Cybersecurity

Smart factories require professionals with expertise in this field because cyberattacks in industries are common threats.

The importance of cybersecurity lies in the following reasons:

Companies’ CPS, Cyber ​​Physical Systems, or technological production processes must be protected and must incorporate important security measures with key features that ensure integrity and accessibility with encryption and authentication methods.

Confidential data must be securely stored and the integrity of communications protected.
External or internal attacks in industries must be prevented. Nothing must be left to chance, and everything from access control to the intellectual property of smart factories themselves must be protected.

An appropriate cybersecurity protocol will constantly assess the current state of the industry in terms of threats and risks to always maintain an optimal level of security.

Cybersecurity is key to protecting the hyperconnected telematics management structure.

Big Data

Every day, we generate a large amount of data that, when used appropriately, can be highly profitable for companies. Data sets require more complex software than we are used to using for processing.

IoT

This involves equipping both industrial objects and machines with chips and sensors to collect and exchange data over the internet.

Cloud Services

This is a management method in which the files we need are available anytime, anywhere, as they are no longer located on a local computer. All you need is a stable internet connection to access them.

Blockchain

Thanks to this technological innovation, information is distributed among multiple users in the form of a blockchain that cannot be modified after publication. This technology is important in the world of banking, but also in medicine and industry.

Nanotechnology

It refers to the creation of materials and the design of equipment that allow us to control matter at the atomic and molecular level.

Along with these digital enablers, we must not forget to mention augmented reality, virtual reality, and collaborative robotics, which are so important today.

MetalMadrid and Connected Manufacturing
For more information on the power of digitalization and the main service providers, you can visit MetalMadrid19 in a few weeks. This event will feature more than 600 supplier companies, an exclusive Connected Manufacturing area, and a comprehensive conference program that will cover all the topics mentioned in this article.

Don’t miss the conference program in the Advanced Engineering Room, where leading experts such as IECISA, Accenture, GMV, EOI, Tecnalia, and many others will discuss energy efficiency, predictive maintenance, fault analysis, cybersecurity, ERP implementation, and much more.