What’s all this talk about “smart factories”? It’s just a bunch of machines being connected to the internet, right? What’s the big deal? What’s the big idea?
True, it’s all about connectivity. But that is, in fact, a very big deal – lots of very big deals, lots of very small deals, just lots and lots of deals, which, when combined, is indeed a huge, historic shift in industrial production, encapsulated by some in terms such as “Industry 4.0” or “Industrial Internet”.
Having been articulated, arguably, by the Germans, talk about “the fourth industrial revolution” or “Industrie 4.0” has permeated virtually all conversations about the future of manufacturing. [Read more…] about Manufacturing: Smarter than the average factory