The Fourth Industrial Revolution is Here

Some interesting partnership announcements came out of the recent HANNOVER MESSE industrial technology trade fair in Germany, giving a good indication of the shape of things to come in terms of industrial applications for IoT. Some of the big-name tie-ups are highlighted here, but according to the trade fair, exhibitors demonstrated more than 400 examples of what is becoming known as the fourth industrial revolution, or what HANNOVER MESSE calls Industrie 4.0.

So what is the fourth industrial revolution? Industrial automation has been around for years, so how much more can actually be achieved? Does the reality justify the hyperbole?

The answer is emphatically yes. The third industrial revolution (dubbed the digital revolution) started taking shape in the middle of the last century and resulted in the use of electronics and IT to automate production and other business processes. The fourth has the power to be truly transformational: to reshape production, consumption, transportation and delivery systems. IoT is just one facet of this revolution, which will see a confluence of technology across AI, robotics, self-driving vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, quantum computing and more, in addition to IoT.

So, back to HANNOVER MESSE. On the carrier side, there were announcements from the incumbent telcos of the host nation and its partner country for the event – the US.

Deutsche Telekom revealed a new ecosystem of IoT platforms, partners and products, with early partners including Cisco, GE Digital, Huawei, Microsoft and SAP. Deutsche Telekom and GE Digital plan to offer a one-stop-shop for digital innovation starting this summer, which will combine GE Digital’s Predix cloud-based industrial internet platform and Deutsche Telekom’s connectivity, IT operations and security solutions. Deutsche Telekom also unveiled its SCADA Security prototype for a monitoring system that detects and reports irregularities in connected industrial installations.

AT&T announced a deal with Otis Elevator Company that straddles the line between industrial IoT and smart cities and buildings. Otis will use IoT and cloud technology from AT&T to collect and analyse data from its lifts, escalators and moving walkways, including real-time performance data, to feed back into product development and improve communication between Otis employees, customers and equipment. The two companies will also collaborate on building intelligence into Otis products for energy efficiency, security and reliability. Office buildings, public transport centres and shopping malls will all become ‘smart’.

AT&T also partnered with Globecomm to launch a new service combining Globecomm’s satellite communications with AT&T’s cellular network to provide connectivity for IoT, particularly in remote locations where mobile coverage is limited or unavailable.

GE Digital’s alliance with Deutsche Telekom wasn’t the only one to make headlines. It also announced a strategic partnership with Oracle that will combine Predix with Oracle’s enterprise solutions to use data from industrial internet devices to help automate and optimise business processes and provide better visibility into assets.

In a similar vein to the AT&T-Otis tie-up, aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce announced it was collaborating with Microsoft to integrate the latter’s Azure IoT Suite and Cortana Intelligence Suite into its service solutions. Data will be collected from Rolls-Royce engines, and aggregated to detect operational anomalies and trends. Intelligent performance feedback on areas such as engine health, inflight performance and fuel usage will help airlines improve operational performance, increase fuel efficiency and save money.

Microsoft also announced that design and manufacturing solution provider Jabil was using its Azure Machine Learning to predict errors or failures on the assembly floor before they occur. Jabil has rolled out the platform in two facilities in Malaysia and Mexico, with plans to deploy it in all its plants.

Agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere revealed it had been working with IBM on a pilot smart manufacturing project. The manufacturing process is fully automated, even for custom builds. The ERP system shows the components that are needed to the worker, who confirms their use, which is reported back to the central platform in real time. An IT system ensures that the required components are available at all times, and documentation is produced automatically. The partners are going a step further by using IBM’s Watson to integrate cognitive maintenance in the event of a fault.

And in an overlap with autonomous vehicles, the Institute of Integrated Production in Hannover (IPH) and Jungheinrich demonstrated their ‘lift truck’, the future forklift. It uses 3D cameras to navigate warehouses without guidance or predefined routes and is controlled by voice commands and gestures.

The various partnerships highlight the technology crossover already inherent in the fourth industrial revolution. Otis’ use of IoT will feed into smart cities and buildings, while John Deere is working to build AI from IBM’s Watson into its smart manufacturing deployment, and autonomous vehicles have a decisive role to play in warehousing. Cloud-based services will form the backbone for many of the applications.

The benefits IoT can bring to all forms of industry are clear: more efficient supply chains, logistics and transportation; intelligent manufacturing; predictive maintenance and servicing. Many solutions are already available and many more are under development. Now all that needs to be done is for the IoT concept to be embedded into business models and for solutions to be implemented – securely.