siliconindia | | May 20199ability to analyze the data collected by intelligent & con-nected machines and draw timely, accurate and proactive inputs. Processes will evolve, as machines become capa-ble of analyzing data, communicating with each other and with humans seamlessly. Engineering has to evolve to al-low such interactions between man and machine, enable autonomous as well as assisted manufacturing, and build self-monitoring systems to bring efficiencies into moni-toring and maintenance. Industrial IoT (IIoT) and mobility deserve center stage in the Industry 4.0 world. We are surrounded by consumer IoT devices like smartwatches that track our vitals and monitor activity, smart TVs that record our favorite pro-grams, smartovens that know when dinner needs to be cooked and smart refrigerators that tell us we are out of eggs. Industrial IoT is quite different. If our fridge doesn't tell us we don't have eggs, it will not bring our life to a standstill. But devices like wind turbines, propellers, components at power plants need to work relentlessly, else the impact will be far reaching. If preventive mainte-nance or safety monitoring devices on machinery fail, the impact to people and businesses is tremendous. With mo-bile communication at the center of IIoT, the advent of 5G is positive news. Access to higher speed, capacity and low latency will power connected workers & connected de-vices and provide an accelerated impetus to Industry 4.0.Where do we really apply all these technologies? Am-azon and Alibaba have deployed robots in their warehous-es to automate material movement, stocking and shipping. Supply chain optimization is an area that has huge poten-tial for application of these technologies to get greater vis-ibility, control and enable organizations to improve speed and quality of delivery. RFID, IIoT and communications can be effectively used in preventive and predictive main-tenance to ensure problems in machinery and equipment are detected and resolved before they occur. The potential to reduce cost of routine maintenance and increase asset life by performing replacements and maintenance just-in-time can result in huge direct and opportunity savings for the business. Asset management, tracking and optimiza-tion can be digitized and can impact inventory manage-ment costs & practices significantly, and prevent losses & theft, especially in after-market sales scenarios. The competitive nature of business across sectors, need for digitization to manage speed, accuracy and qual-ity of delivery, need for visibility across product & service value chains, demands on customer experience & satis-faction and desire for consistency & flexibility in busi-ness models necessitates transformation along the lines of Industry 4.0. In today's disruptive world, as financial services and healthcare companies compete against Ama-zon and Google, differentiation in business lines are also getting cloudy. Digital shift is needed to stay competitive. Other benefits of change include seamless functioning between departments and functions, the opportunity to address issues before they occur and the ability to boost growth at the right costs and scale.Industry 4.0 will not only impact manufacturing, but will have cascading effects on productivity, business models, IT security & governance, sales & marketing, and on people and related people practices such as hiring, training, skill development and managing productivity. As human-machine interaction increases and delineation between what human workers do vs. what machines are expected to deliver gets fuzzy, human resources practic-es need a shift in perspective, policies and practices in future. With increase in human-machine and machine-to-machine communication, data captured & analyzed, IT security and governance also need to get more crea-tive, vigilant and flexible to meet the changing needs of business. With increase in human-machine and machine-to-machine communication, data captured & analyzed, IT security and governance also need to get more creative, vigilant and flexible to meet the changing needs of business
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