If Industry 4.0 had to be distilled into one word, this word would be connection. Connections provide the means for all Industry 4.0technologies to operate. In manufacturing artificial intelligence (AI) would be useless without a connected sensor to pull data from and a data pool in the cloud. A distributed additive manufacturing network would cease to exist if its array of 3D printers were separated. Connections may not be the flashiest topic in the pantheon of Industry 4.0 technology, but they are the most important. They are the building blocks, the rudimentary proteins that will build the body of our manufacturing base now and in the future.
Big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) are the two sides of the cyber-physical coin of connection. Big data represents the virtual data pool while IoT represents the physical means to collect and connect a system together.
Each is worthy of its own roundtable discussion, but our recent roundtable focused on the magic that happens when they work together, and the work the industry must do to facilitate their growth.
Our first topic of discussion will be to identify the baseline of how big data and IoT are implemented across the manufacturing value chain. What are the innovative methods? What is the decision-making process across industry sectors on the degree of inclusion?
Secondly, it is a known fact with added cyber complexity in an operation comes added cyberthreats. Data privacy, cyberattacks and even industrial espionage threaten to derail the gains of implementing big data and IoT. We need to identify these cybersecurity challenges and work together to eliminate them.
Another topic of note is what comes at the endpoints of big data and IoT. How are organizations analyzing their data pools? Are they deploying AI to help them? Are they able to make real-time decisions for operational efficiency with their findings? What is the line between decision making with an algorithm vs. human analysis?
Automation Alley, along with partners we've assembled from industry, academia and government, together can address these questions and drive progress. It is an honor and privilege to present this playbook and to work together toward our shared goal of prosperity through technological advancement.
Read the Integr8 Playbook, "Transformative Synergy: Exploring Big Data and IoT," in full here.
