The fourth industrial revolution is underway! Virtual and physical systems, combining seamlessly by making use of the advanced capabilities of today’s internet, allow manufacturers to produce materials superior to the current standards. Unfortunately, the trend with many Australian industries, is to dismiss the concept as a “gimmick”. They prefer to stick with the old, so called “tried and true” methods (which by the way have been spectacularly unsuccessful in Australia!), rely on government subsidies and gradually fade into irrelevance and bankruptcy. A few forward thinking entrepreneurial businesses may do well to heed the advice from large international companies like Siemens:
What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
Much has been written about Industry 4.0 being the next industrial revolution, but how many Australian manufacturers really understand the concept? Alan Johnson reports.
The next industrial revolution, Industy 4.0, is described as a marketplace in which machines offer their services and exchange information with products in real time.
http://www.electronicsnews.com.au/news/what-is-the-fourth-industrial-revolution
The manufacturing industry is still one of the drivers of the Australian economy – but rapidly deteriorating in the face of it’s global non-competitiveness. Perhaps a radical forward-thinking strategy and actions based on aggressive restructuring around “Industry 4.0 standards” can build a long term sustainable and globally competitive manufacturing base in some specialist areas . The impact of this new industrial revolution might not be obvious now but it is predicted that in 15 to 20 years time, cyber-physical products that are superior and considerably more cost-efficient to manufacture, will dominate the global market. I wonder will Australia be part of that? This new industrial revolution is not a gimmick! Those that embrace it, will build a competitive advantage.
Image Source: Infographic
Insights by: Jürgen Strauss