What Should “Industry 4.0” Differ from Previous Industrial Revolutions?

Abstract

During 2016-19, the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded the “Connect Everything: Industrial Systems in the Digital Age” programme (£ 1m) and adopted the German-initiated term “Industry 4.0” for the coming a priori “industrial revolution”. As part of this programme, University of Glasgow hosted the EPSRC’s first conference on this topic - “Looking Beyond Industry 4.0”. The success of this programme led to another round of £ 1m funding for “Connected Everything II: Accelerating Digital Manufacturing Research Collaboration and Innovation” (2019-22), so as “to make the most of this fourth industrial revolution”. The first three Industrial Revolutions took place a posteriori, and mostly, were concerned with assisting and liberating humans from physical labour. Today, should the a priori Industry 4.0 differ from the previous industrial revolutions? If so, would the difference be in a focus on assisting and liberating humans from mental labour for the first time? The recent World Economic Forum highlighted four main design principles of this revolution: (1) Interoperability, (2) Information transparency, (3) Cognitive and physical assistance (4) Decentralised decisions and actions. Coinciding with this wave of revolution is the third wave of artificial intelligence (AI), which is currently in its earnest resurgence. It is now possible to develop computational AI technology to surpass a human designer in innovation and creativity, just like AlphaGo Zero in London to have surpassed AlphaGo and humans in Go playing. The progress of science and technology now heavily relies on simulation-based ‘third paradigm of science’ in the form of ‘computer-aided design’ (CAD). AI can transform CAD simulations to predictive simulations for ‘computer-automated design’ (CAutoD), which becomes possible through AI with the increased computing power and data. Thus, CAutoD should help Industry 4.0 to achieve mass customisation at a mass production cost in the near future. However, design, manufacturing and service all need to be taken into account for factory-floor innovation in order to deliver transformative improvements in performance, productivity and time-to-market. Commensurate with the ‘intelligent manufacturing’ value chain and ‘market informatics’ at the end of this value chain, such Industry 4.0 would enhance innovation, creativity and competitiveness.