The Post-Fourth Industrial Revolution World – Part 2

By

21884137_sThis article is a continuation of a post I just wrote that explores in greater detail the hype that may, or may not exist in our future (link to Part 1). The topic is around expectations on what life will be like living in a Post-Fourth Industrial Revolution World.  But first, let’s take a look back in time to see if some of the origins of this transformation might have sown their seeds …

It is 2008 All Over Again

To judge whether this could be truly revolutionary, I believe one should fast-forward and take a look at the new industrial world that is in the making. The industrial world today is somewhat like the consumer world seven years ago, before cell phones become “smart” and mobile tablets were almost unknown. Probably very few could have seen why we need our mobile devices to connect to the Internet, other than for the purpose of reading emails. And most would contend with their lives without Apps, social media or all other gadgets such as watches that now can connect to their cell phone.

Back in 2008, some of the most advanced phones were made in Japan. Names like Nokia and Blackberry were the dominant forces in the cell phone market. Few would have seen the coming of iOS and Android as the dominant software platforms that would eventually push out phone giants who did not adapt. It has become a world that is all about mobile phone Apps. Phones that cannot run these killer apps don’t sell, despite their superior HW capability. Hundreds billion dollars of transactions are now running on these platforms – touching almost every part of our daily life.

The Brave New World

In the post-Fourth Industrial Revolution world, industrial Apps will be running on a few dominant software platforms that orchestrate smart products, people, devices, sensors, production cells, robots, production lines and factories, each of all these will not only have its own IP address, but will also have “smart” built-in logic with a capability to collaborate with each other through a set of standards and protocols.

The manufacturing of a product could be about running an App on an operating system platform that coordinates all the manufacturing resources globally, on demand. Production Lines would become so adaptable that they are no longer lines but individual cells, reconfiguring themselves according to the product coming down the line carrying its own specifications and Bill of Material (BOM). Any unplanned interruption like a quality issue, machine problem or skilled worker out sick could be easily handled on-the-spot, through dynamic negotiation between intelligent agents, to arrange an alternative path. This scenario is somewhat similar to how flight delays and changing weather conditions are handled by travel agents.

This new world would operate in drastic contrast to the paradigm of factory automation and CIM (computer integrated manufacture) initiatives from a decade ago, based on centralized control. This world of distributed intelligence operates through a dynamic network of smart devices that are capable of identifying themselves, discovering others as well as collaborating and optimizing on-the-fly!

The endgame does not stop there. In the post-Fourth Industrial Revolution world, these industrial Apps will talk to other Apps, including those in the consumer world. Facebook, Amazon and Twitter, among others, will have access to vast resources from the industrial world to better connect industrial output to consumer demand. The line between B-to-C and B-to-B will be blurred and consumer will experience a whole new world.

The world of design and applied research will also join the game. The science of physics, biology, chemistry, material science will be part of the building blocks for designing new products from a molecular level, as they are being exposed as Apps and services, pulled by consumer demand as needed. This mechanism is sometime called “Smart Pull.”

There are apparent obstacles ahead in coming to terms with global standards, converging SW, HW, ICT technologies and some of today’s players will extinct or evolve. This new world may dawn slowly and gradually through-out the next decade as the industrial world is highly complex and interwoven. Many leaders are currently caught up by the complexity and forgot to view Industry 4.0 in the light of new era of experiences.

The Unique Experience

Getting back to Veerle’s business trip, she celebrated her wedding anniversary two months later. She was surprised when her husband bought her a new watch with the same design that delighted her in California. But this watch had a new silver material engineered just for her DNA, thereby avoiding any skin allergy. Intelligent Apps and Agents spanning consumer and industrial platforms have been actively working behind the scenes to dynamically synthesize science, design, manufacturing and logistics. What has been created is nothing short of revolutionary, when viewed from the perspective of consumer experience. This is our new reality that in the post fourth industrial revolution world, we will be hard-pressed to imagine how we lived without this incredible new level of product personalization.

 

If you liked this article, here are a few others you might also find interesting:

 

james.mok@apriso.com'

James Mok