Embrace Disruption: How Food Manufacturers Can Approach IoT

By Antony Bourne, IFS

While Industry 4.0 does revolve around intelligence gathered from a number of places, it spans more than just IoT.

Over the past 10 years, 70% of companies on the Fortune 1000 list have vanished. Although this statistic may invoke fear, what it should do is demonstrate the importance of capitalizing on change instead of fearing it.

One country that has taken a proactive approach to this is Germany, with the founding of Industry 4.0, its vision for the future of manufacturing. Industry 4.0 – or the fourth industrial revolution – is a term that encompasses a variety of contemporary automation, data exchange and manufacturing technologies. The natural evolution of technology and pushing of boundaries is what has really facilitated the creation of Industry 4.0.

One trend we’re seeing is people using the terms Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things (IoT), even the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) interchangeably. While Industry 4.0 does revolve around intelligence gathered from a number of places – including the manufacturing process, it spans more than just IoT, encompassing advanced automation, additive manufacturing and augmented reality, to name but a few.