Skip to main content

Industry 4.0 in India – A brief discourse by Dr V K Saraswat


In a nutshell, Industry 4.0 is deployment of significantly faster, more flexible, higher productivity & efficiency, and self-managing production processes where people , machines, equipment, logistics systems and work-in-process components communicate and cooperate with each other directly increasing competitiveness, resulting in high quality and low cost products.




Industry 4.0 is digital transformation applied to manufacturing – bringing with it all the change, opportunities and challenges that are required today.



Industry 4.0 connects the supply chain and the ERP system directly to the production line to form an integrated, automated and, potentially, autonomous manufacturing processes that make better use of capital, raw materials, and human resources.



According to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) bcg.perspectives blog post:


"Industry 4.0 technologies represent a paradigm shift in industrial manufacturing that is comparable to the introduction of computer-aided design (CAD) systems that replaced analog technical drawing in the 1990s and the integrated CAD systems that subsequently combined the mechanical and electrical design of systems. Companies that failed to be among the early adopters of CAD systems could not keep pace with their competitors’ productivity increases."




Seems like a near perfect scenario of seamless integration that everyone looks to incorporate in a system, doesn’t it?



The factors that will help us execute this goal include:




- IOT (Internet of Things)
- IIoT ( Industrial Internet of Things)
- Robotics, Automation
- Sensor embedded systems
- 3D printing
- Virtual Reality
- Augmented Reality
- Big Data Analytics
- Artificial Intelligence
- Cloud computing




The key innovative technologies that we are looking for, to integrate industry 4.0 are :



- Networked and Cyber Data systems
- Smart devices and intelligent products for diagnostics, maintenance and industrial control.
- Data analysis tools, augmented reality, virtual reality, adaptive programming and other simulation devices
- Robotics and automated systems
- Additive manufacturing





Within India, the partnership eco-system is in the process of breaking ground. A case in example would be the CMTI-IISc-IMTMA collaborative proposal to address industry 4.0 issues related to development, deployment & training for the Indian machine tool industry. A demo cum try-out centre is proposed to be realized at CMTI, Bangalore.




While this futuristic goal is an ideal model that will enhance much more than just standards of living and development, transforming the present state of manufacturing to Industry 4.0 comes ridden with challenges.



Let’s discuss the challenges and pre-requisites to making Industry 4.0 a reality in India in my next post. Questions ? Please comment below.




















Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Day In My Life - Glimpses of my recently concluded Rajasthan Trip

Rajasthan has always held a special place in my life, so when I was scheduled to travel there recently, I was quite looking forward to the trip. It was a three-day trip and I went about appointments as usual. A lot of my readers were asking me to write a post on some of the talks and seminars I’ve been a part of so I thought this trip would be a good place to start. I reached Rajasthan late on the 29th of August and prepped for a couple of meetings the next day.  It  was a bright sunny morning as always and after a quick morning routine I headed to meet Professor Bhatia , (Vice Chancellor, Poornima University) and Dr. Prabhat Pankaj, Director, Jaipuria Institute of Management for the convocations held in their respective institutions. It was pleasant to meet the vibrant young graduates who will soon shape the face of our country.                                    ...

The Early life of Dr. V. K .Saraswat - Fighting stage fear

My position demands quite a lot of public speaking and addressing events and conventions, and other such public events. Almost often, I get invited to speak at the dais, facing the audience and the cameras to give my opinion or something, to speak of a decision made or to announce plans made by the body I’m currently associated with. I must say, that I’ve come to see it as a privilege today more than I did years ago, where I would tremble at the very thought of having to speak in front of an audience. It’s but natural, I think, for when we’re children to be afraid of public speaking. Some call it stage fear, some say “you’re a shy child” when we refuse to perform in front of relatives who come home while sometimes, you’re just a taciturn of sorts. Stage fright may be a small issue while growing up, but later often manifests itself in many ways - you may not be an active participant in college activities, you may not be very confident in job interviews and you may not be ...

My take on Inclusive Growth – Part 2 ( ISB Dean Speaker series

  While growth still remains the most important parameter of any poverty reduction attempt, inclusive growth is basically related to redistributive growth. Inclusive development creates opportunities for all segments of the society in health, education, skill development, jobs, reducing poverty, entrepreneurship etc. on the principle of equality and focuses on outcomes and processes involving people’s participation and benefit-sharing. While one can’t have Economic Development without economic growth, GDP is not the only indicator of prosperity. A clear example of this statement are countries like China and India who have huge GDPs but lag behind in areas like health, overall wellness and life-expectancy among others. An inclusive green economy can reduce poverty and inequality We all aspire to reach better living conditions, yet this will not be possible by following the current growth model. We need a practical, 21 st century development model tha...