Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 9

Contact: WILL SHAMBLEY will@nefoundrytech.com As we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution we are mechanizing the thinking process. We can use wearable devices to monitor worker body temperature and stress levels to help prevent injuries. Adaptive machine learning can eliminate worker learning curves. Factories can monitor stock levels and order raw materials based on market prices and customer purchase orders. Production lines can perform tool changes in advance of scrap being produced and schedule maintenance on themselves prior to the occurrence of system failures. All of this possible due to artificial intelligence that can make decentralized decisions – i.e computers that can analyze data and execute plans without human intervention. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 4.0: CORE PRINCIPLES OF SMART FACTORIES Cyber-Physical Systems Modular “smart” equipment & devices that monitor physical processes & make decentralized decisions without human interaction required – or to augment the capability of human operators. Internet Of Things Digital devices with internet connectivity that can communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in real time. Includes sensors (know what is happening) and actuators (make things happen). An evolution of data logging and PLCs. Cloud Computing (Connectivity) – Accessible over internet, massively powered shared computing resources and compilations of data that far exceed the capabilities of any one company. Only possible through global economy of scale of computing resources. Cognitive Computing Artificial intelligence that encompasses adaptive machine learning, natural language processing, speech recognition, vision recognition, emotion analysis and biometric scanning, enabling true human- computer interaction and dialog. Systems like IBM’s Watson can make independent contextual decisions based on large sets of unstructured data. New advanced AI is capable reasoning of iterative problem solving from incomplete or ambiguous data, such as weather, video, physical senses. So what will the Fifth Industrial Revolution be? The groundwork has already started. So far, all the marketing, apps, tools, and products have been “seller driven”. Companies, entrepreneurs, engineers and designers decide what to make, based on what they think that you want – and then they sell it to you. My crystal ball says that the 5th Industrial Revolution will grow from the automation of individual buyers’ agents – when the mechanization of the creative process allows the consumer to pull what they want or need from the economy on demand. 5 Industrial Revolution First 1760-1840 Second 1870-1914 Third 1980-2015 Fourth 2013-CURRENT Cause for Celebration Mechanized factories, Chemical manufacturing, steam power, “puddling” of iron in reverb furnaces Transcontinental Rail Roads, Bessemer & Open Hearth Steel Mills, Steel Buildings, Elevators, Electricity, Mass Production, Ford Assembly Lines Computer, digital signal processing , PLC’s, CNC, CAD, CAM, FPGA, 3D Printing, robotic automation Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud & Cognitive Computing, Additive Manufacturing, Distributed Digital Manufacturing US Percent of Global GDP < 1 % to 2 % 9 % to 19 % 21 % to 15.3 % 2017 ~ 24% The WORLD GDP HAS RISEN FROM < $1.5 Trillion in 1960 to > $75 Trillion in 2016