Industry 4.0 revolution-coming world

The 4th Industrial Revolution

“The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited. And these possibilities will be multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing.

The avalanche of disruptive technologies that is fast changing the world as we know it, is blending the physical, digital and biological worlds. This phenomenon is called the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

So, how did this evolve?

Figure 1: Timeline depicting the development of the industrial revolutions. 

What does this mean?

Society and economic systems are changing as the fourth revolution is evolving at an exponential rate. As advances in technology cause rapid change and transformation in numerous industries, the blurring of technology into every part of our lives and business practices is becoming the norm.

There are many documented potential threats, such as:

• Businesses failing to respond, adapt and innovate in time.
• Governments failing to regulate the technologies appropriately.
• Increased security and privacy risks.
• Increase in inequality as automation and robotics threatens low-skill jobs whilst artificial intelligence (AI) and technology drives demand for high-skill jobs.

However, just as society and businesses had to adapt to the consequences and opportunities created by the previous three revolutions, we today need to choose how we are managing the challenges and embracing the opportunities of Industry 4.0.  By intelligently employing and harnessing the benefits and potential of smart technologies and data we can drive positive change.

It is critical for New Zealand businesses to respond to this rapidly changing environment and ceaselessly innovate:

• Finding new ways to serve existing customer needs.
• Using the global digital platforms to speed up research and development, facilitating speed to market, agility and competitiveness (price and quality).
• Anticipating and understanding changing consumer needs as a result of smartphone enabled platforms that are causing consumption and behaviour changes.
• Using data to better design products whilst improving marketing and finding/creating new distribution channels.
• Adapting management and business strategies to be agile and responsive to change, with new leadership styles and entrepreneurial intelligence.
• Questioning and redefining strategies and business models whilst investing in continuous internal innovation and skills training.

In the informative video The Fourth Industrial Revolution by World Economic Forum, William McDonough (Stanford University) says, “The goal is really about a diverse, safe, healthy and just world with clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy.”