There’s a lot of talk about Industry 4.0 upgrades and how they can improve businesses – but even after several years, clear case studies can be difficult to find. Part of the issue is that Industry 4.0 upgrades are always bespoke and specifically-tailored to the needs of each individual business. What is good for one company would be useless for another
That’s why we were pleased to see the article “The Rise Of Digital Platforms In Manufacturing” in last month’s issue of Manufacturing Global magazine. They got some of the biggest companies in the world to open up about how they’ve been using Industry 4.0 processes. It’s worth giving the entire article a read, but here are some of the highlights.
How Global-Scale Companies Are Making Industry 4.0 Work
1. PepsiCo
Food and beverage companies are intensively reliant on their partners, both suppliers and sellers. The more tightly-integrated their digital ecosystem is, the better. So, PepsiCo launched their “Foodservice Digital Lab,” a suite of digital tools aimed at making life easier for their partner companies. The digital lab allows the ecosystem to more easily analyze customer trends, place and refine ordering strategies, and otherwise meet the demands of consumers in a highly competitive market.
2. Ericsson
As one of the top hardware vendors in the telecommunications and networking sector, Ericsson is always looking to improve and streamline their processes. One of their most impressive new initiatives is the Ericsson Panda factory in China, which is almost entirely automated. Robust connectivity and monitoring by Internet-of-Things devices allows the company to significantly cut both their capital expenses as well as their operating expenses. Everything from their steel shipping pallets to their fire extinguishers are tracked, automated, and monitored – reducing the chances of human error, while improving productivity.
3. Nokia
Another giant in telecommunications and networking, Nokia has been focusing on improving offerings to Communication Service Providers. Their new Digital Operations Center is an automated platform that allows CSPs a high degree of freedom in how they provide and utilize new 5G cellular services, including tools that simplify the “slicing” of parts of bandwidth into separate offerings. This is combined with the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud, a fully end-to-end cloud computing environment which is also made available to partners and resellers. These innovations don’t merely help improve their partners’ experience, it also improves the offerings available to end users as well.
4. HP
Already well-known in the traditional printer industry, it’s no surprise HP is now going big on 3D printing. They’re putting Industry 4.0 to work in R&D, with the establishment of their Digital Manufacturing Centre Of Excellence in Spain. It allows talent from around the globe to collaborate on scientific development, while offering state-of-the-art online-connected research facilities. Any discoveries will then be easier than ever to develop into final products.
If there’s a key takeaway here, it should be in the sheer variety of projects on offer. Industry 4.0 isn’t a single set of principles, ideas, or workflows. Industry 4.0 principles of data-sharing, interconnectivity, IoT monitoring, and automation can be put to work in a huge number of ways, simply depending on the needs of each company. If there’s an area of your operation which is struggling, there is a good chance an Industry 4.0 solution exists to provide improvements.
LogicBay can help you in your own digital transformation! Our suite of tools, consultation, and our free-to-use FUSE collaboration platform can all be key tools in achieving your own Industry 4.0 goals. Contact us to learn more about how we can enable your ecosystem to succeed.
