The new European plan Industry 4.0, with its various country-based conjugations, represents a great opportunity for all the manufacturing entities and a strong driver for the modernization of the entire industrial sector.
Industry 4.0 is born in Germany as a ‘virtuous approach’, providing a theoretical base and a tangible financial and institutional support to the innovation process linked to the ever-increasing digitalization and interconnection among production systems.
The plan, presented in 2011 and implemented in Germany since 2013, has been established with the precise aim to improve working conditions while reducing the margin of error and increasing productivity through the adoption of more and more smart equipment.
German Government investment for modernizing infrastructures and production systems – in addition to the allowances and the other benefits granted to private companies that started renovating the ‘vehicle fleet’ – generated extremely encouraging results. Based on these results, people started talking about the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and other countries chose to follow the German example.
In September 2016, the Italian Government introduced an incentive plan for companies intending to invest in advanced technologies and equipment, generating a sharp increase in the orders for machinery and a robust growth in the robotics market (boosting the overall dynamism and confidence of the entire industrial sector).
It is an opportunity that has to be taken now, with courage and with the awareness that it’s not conceivable to face the future competitive scenario by holding the position and by relying on obsolete systems, more and more burdensome and wasteful. The revolution has begun, let’s embrace the change and take advantage of it!
For further information about the Italian plan: http://www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/images/stories/documenti/guida_industria_40.pdf (Guida al Piano Nazionale Industria 4.0 – in Italian)
Some insights on Industry 4.0:
- https://www.automationworld.com/article/topics/industrial-internet-things/revitalizing-us-manufacturing-industry-40
- http://www.zerounoweb.it/osservatori/smart-green/industry-4-0-per-proiettare-il-manifatturiero-europeo-nel-futuro.html (in Italian)
- http://industry.itismagazine.it/news/951/industry-4-0-imprese-italiane-working-progress#.WRVe2lXyiUk (in Italian)
- (in Italian)