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Does Industry 4.0 Pose a Challenge for the SME Machine Builder?

Sales Director, Mark Jones CEng., presented a paper regarding Industry 4.0 at the Eighth International Precision Assembly Seminar, IPAS 2018. Industry 4.0 is the latest industrial transition regarding the combination of cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, and the Internet of systems. How does the Industry 4.0 transition affect a SME Machine Builder?

Mark investigated the concepts within Industry 4.0, ideas of how Factory 4.0 affects a small SME and a view of the future. Within the paper, there is a review of the several strands of Industry 4.0 and the likely impact on TQC and its Clients.

The full paper is available via the link below, the abstract and conclusion are as follows:

Abstract

TQC is a special purpose machinery builder.  We became aware of the Industry 4.0 concepts and decided to investigate whether we were already prepared for what has been termed the fourth industrial revolution, or whether there were new concepts and practices that our company should adopt.  
 
This paper shows the process through which we evaluated the aspects related to the Industry 4.0 definitions.  We dissected the various core concepts and then expanded the process to cover the nine pillars on which Industry 4.0 is built. We assessed ourselves against each significant element to see if we understood the concepts and requirements.  We asked if these aspects were relevant to our business, we assessed whether our experience and actions to date covered the core of each element.  We also looked at the challenges Industry 4.0 poses for the future of our business.
 
This paper is a review of the process and it presents our findings.

Conclusion

Our conclusion from the above assessment is that TQC is already dealing with many of the attributes covered by the Industry 4.0 definitions and the associated analyses published within recent papers on the subject that have expanded the Industry 4.0 concepts and drivers. This process was already in place before we knew of Industry 4.0.

Having undergone our company research into the topic and assessed the elements is detail we believe that we are now better prepared to address the challenges that may arise in the future.

Full Paper: Does Industry 4.0 Pose a Challenge for the SME Machine Builder? A Case Study and Reflection of Readiness for the UK SME