We are in the midst of technological revolution which is changing our lives each day. It has indeed changed our lives a lot. We are now used to getting things at our fingertips by just a click.
Gone is the traditional era of manual, physical pains and gains. We are passing through a tech era where everything is so easy and no physical pain is actually required to get things done. But this is a much later stage which we are witnessing. There have been times of physical hardships and pain when people actually used to bear so many things and with the deprivation of so-called facilities to ease the work done. Thus to make the lives easy occurred industrial or technological revolution which can be categorized into 4 stages as follows:

• FIRST PHASE: The first phase took place at the end of the 18th Century. It involved use of hydro electricity and steam power to mechanize production.

• SECOND PHASE: The second phase was witnessed in the beginning of the 20th Century. It used electric power for mass production.

• THIRD PHASE: Then came the third phase wherein electronics and information technology began to be used for automation of production.

• FOURTH PHASE: Currently we are witnessing the fourth phase of Industrial Revolution wherein the digital revolution has been befalling since the middle of the last century. It is a fusion of technologies. It involves networking and exchange of information between human and machines.

Thus operational excellence concepts cannot survive for long with the ongoing technological revolution. Industries need to come up with alternative plans to face the challenges following the fourth phase. It’s not that easy but it’s not impossible either. The solution to this problem can thus be smart manufacturing. Industries should adopt smart ways of manufacturing by going tech-savvy.

Smart Manufacturing or Industry 4.0 incorporates cyber-physical systems to monitor the physical processes of the factory and make decentralized decisions. The systems become Internet of Things, communicating and cooperating both with each other and with humans in real time via the wireless web.

It can thus be said that manufacturing world should be open to changes and is open to changes to much extent. As always said changes are bound to happen. So, now is the time to embrace it for the better and adopt it for our development, ease and comfort.

Written By Faber Ramya Pillai