Articles Tagged with ''Industry 4.0''

Industrial revolution’s “fourth wave” disrupting manufacturing industry with automation and big data.

You can’t escape the buzzwords. The Internet of Things. The Industrial Internet of Things. Edge Computing. Industry 4.0. Big. Data. Every practitioner has their own, slightly different definition of what these terms mean—a fuzzy cloud of vague meaning.

Most manufacturers are just now embarking on their exploration of Industry 4.0 and figuring out how to use automation, data exchange, cloud computing, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to create smart factories.

TASI Group, a family of 12 companies focused on test, inspection and measurement for manufacturing, acquired Ottawa’s Sciemetric Instruments Inc., a pioneer of Industry 4.0 smart technologies. The terms of the deal between the two privately owned companies were not disclosed. Sciemetric will continue to operate as an independent Canadian corporation.

Disruption seems to be a very popular term in the media recently. Traditionally, something described as disruptive has a negative connotation. However, this new definition can be viewed as positive, depending on whether you believe in the status quo or not.

A friend of mine likes to quip that someday computers will make all our lives easier. He’s kidding (I think), but it seems to be a fact of modern life that every time we open our phones, tablets, or computers, or even check our watches, there are upgrades waiting to be installed for the apps we have, and new and improved apps on offer to replace those.

Most quality departments are still doing things the old fashioned way: measure, collect, compare, respond, fix, and repeat. This reactive, legacy approach is, of course, vital for any successful company, but in this data-driven age of smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0, it’s not enough. 

Speakers from Advantech and partners Intel, Micron, NVIDIA and DataCore will present the newest industrial IoT, automation and AI technologies and trends.

Organized along six tracks—geospatial, geosystems, manufacturing intelligence, mining, process, power and marine and safety and infrastructure—the conference presents a lineup of the technologies driving Hexagon’s SMART X strategy.

Hexagon President Norbert Hanke will explore Hexagon's vision for the future of manufacturing.