Interesting article here, regarding the transformation of manufacturing and industry. When you think of Industry 4.0 you may think of a clean manufacturing environment, bright clear lights, perhaps robots moving things about and 3D printers creating parts in room without people. We do as well. Although we just don’t see the adoption out in the mainstream. We see dusty old network architecture, assembly done by humans all with repetitive actions and not ideal conditions.
In order for us to be on the leading edge of technology in North America, we must continue to have these new technologies adopted by manufacturers through taking a leap and making change. That is the paradigm shift, that isn’t happening fast enough. We all know that Asia is far and away superior at making products inexpensively, we have to try and get there by making sure manufacturing have the tools they need to make Industry 4.0 happen now!
Does all this change mean getting rid of trades? Nope! It means more technology savvy trades, removing repetitive work with robots and keeping a steady eye on technology ensuring you are on the edge but maybe not the bleeding edge.
Key takeaways: robotics, vision systems and 3D printing are becoming key to the next wave of manufacturing.