//////////////////////////
he Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Smart manufacturing. Digital
transformation. Industry 4.0.
Call it what you will, the current trend
for automation and data exchange in
manufacturing technologies is transforming
production lines, supply chains and product
portfolios, disrupting how we produce and
deliver goods today and transforming the
manufacturing workplace of tomorrow.
According to a recent Epicor study, 64%
of businesses around the globe are
successfully growing their profits and this
growth trend has coincided with over
half of global businesses assigning a high
priority to IT investment.
So, there’s no doubt that Industry 4.0 will
soon have an impact on your workplace if it
hasn’t done so already.
With machine learning capabilities and
connected equipment enabling businesses
to automate the production line, humans
can up-skill, take on new duties, add greater
value and focus less on repetitive tasks.
They can therefore expect to be employed in
more interesting and challenging roles in the
future, helping their personal development
and growth.
Industry 4.0 will involve a significant shift in
how people work; specifically their mindsets
and habits.
Here are three such workplace attitudes that
will need to change, as Industry 4.0 alters
how we work.
Terri Hiskey, Vice-President for Product
Marketing Manufacturing at Epicor
“
SHARING
DATA MAKES
MANUFACTURING
MORE AGILE,
BRINGING THE
DAYS OF MOVING IN
SILOS TO AN END.
‘That’s not my remit, talk to a
different department about it’
Industry 4.0 is breaking down the traditional
silos that separate the different departments
within a business, with enterprise resource
planning (ERP) software playing a crucial role.
ERP software acts as a single-source for
business intelligence in the age of Industry
4.0, presenting employees with real-time
data when they need it, thus bringing
departments closer together.
That data might include information about
the status of a project, updates on a partner’s
www.intelligentcio.com
requirements or analytics about customer
trends or equipment maintenance schedules.
For example, jet engine makers GE and
Rolls-Royce now routinely collect data from
their products as they fly around the world to
schedule maintenance.
In doing so, they stand a better chance of
reducing downtime for individual aircraft
and keeping up with customer demand.
When sales teams, management and
production line staff can access real-time
INTELLIGENTCIO
35