Three common pitfalls while implementing Industry 4.0

There are many manufacturing companies embracing Industry 4.0 technology, but some challenges remain. Today we are going to learn more about the common pitfalls of the implementation of Smart Industry. 

But if you just want to learn more about the benefits of Industry 4.0, we wrote this article. For now, let's start with the first common challenge. 

Gap in Technical Skills 

The necessary competences of our employees are constantly evolving. During the Industry 4.0 revolution, there will be more emphasis on employees who understand manufacturing processes, but also adapt to the digital tools that support these processes. Only with a (digital) agile workforce that understands the manufacturing processes, the shift to a more data driven approach will be successful. 

Interoperability 

In our article “What is Smart Industry, and why is it important?”, we already wrote about the importance of interoperability. But what does interoperability mean on the workfloor? In short, in order to make data driven decisions and reduce dependence on human labor, factories and industrial processes need a vast integration between the hardware, software, and employees involved in the (production) processes.

A lack of integration between protocols, hardware, software and human labor prevents companies from innovating and continuously improving efficiency and effectiveness through data driven decision making. Moreover, since 

Security

Another overlooked pitfall is the threat of current and emerging security vulnerabilities in the factory. The physical and digital systems that make up smart factories make real-time process and manufacturing adjustments possible with just the click of a mouse button. A huge improvement for operators and engineers. However, this comes with a risk. 

Smart factories are equipped with a wide range of devices, machines, and networks, all of which could be vulnerable to an attack, if any of them are prone to vulnerabilities. In order to address this issue, companies must anticipate both system vulnerabilities on the enterprise level as well as operational vulnerabilities on a machine level. Moreover, this should already be covered in Industry 4.0 proof of concept projects. 

Applied Smart Industry

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