Industry 4.0 – A Must Way Forward for our Industry
Author: Bob White, CEO, Pulmac Systems
Event: TAPPICon 2021
This presentation will discuss the following:
- Industry 4.0 fundamentals
- Principles
- Benefits
- Importance
- Challenges
Why Industry 4.0
In an Industry 4.0 environment, mills will be components in an integrated operations environment, with production managed at the corporate level.
The company will be better able to deal with disruptions in customer demand, supply chain capabilities, and such impacts on human resources as the Covid-19 pandemic has had.
The Objective of Industry 4.0
The objective of Industry 4.0 is to integrate all company processes, including mill production system information, into the company as a whole, including the business processes mentioned above and with sister mills in the company. Its main differentiator is “connectivity through the Industrial Internet of things” (IIOT). Thus, a mill becomes part of an ecosystem as opposed to an independent entity.
The Benefits
Most mills use a continuous improvement mindset to improve their performance. As a result, capital is allocated for specific constant improvement activities. Instead, I suggest using that capital to make ongoing improvements using processes that are pillars of Industry 4.0. More specifically, making improvements that measure, monitor, and control the performance of processes according to a long-term Industry 4.0 plan is the way to go and will provide information that can eventually be used in an Industry 4.0 transformation of the company.
- Industry 4.0 improves sustainability.
- Developing Industry 4.0 plan at the corporate level
- Break down the “silos” that exist in mills and companies
- Developing organization for Industry 4.0
- Understand the disruptions that must be faced for
- Industry 4.0 implementation
- Measuring the extent of Industry 4.0 implementation in our industry, i.e., SMART goals