THROUGHOUT human history, people have always depended on technology, using it constantly to make their lives easier, whilst also trying to perfect it and take it to the next level.
This is where the industrial revolution emerged, and so far the human race has witnessed four industrial revolutions.
During the prehistoric period, agriculture was considered the backbone of economic prosperity of a society which was replaced by the first industrial revolution.
It was witnessed from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. The most significant changes occurred in the industries as due to mechanisation people witnessed significant coal extraction and invention of steam engine at the time, resulting in mechanised production and transport system, thereby propelling the economy.
A century later, the world ushered in the second industrial revolution. It began at the end of the 19th century, when major technological breakthroughs in the sphere of industries aided the development of a new source of energy called electricity.
The internal combustion engine was invented as a result of this revolution and began to attain its full potential. The steel demand, chemical synthesis, automobile, airplane and communication were some of the main significant features of this era.
The third industrial revolution was seen at the second part of the 20th century.
Electronics, commercial nuclear energy, telecommunications, and computers gained popularity with time.
This revolution unlocked the door to research, space exploration and biotechnology through new technologies. The programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and robots facilitated users in an era of high-level automation in the industrial sector.
The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is one of the most debated issues in both professional and academic circles and is the basic requirement for smart manufacturing.
Industry 4.0 is based on the use of digital technology to collect and analyse data in real time, delivering important data to the industrial system and make decisions to make products more economical and sustainable.
This was made possible by integrating the big data, Internet of Things (IoT), analytics and cloud services, resulting in the cyber physical system.
The concept of a smart factory is at the heart of Industry 4.0. The smart factory, according to experts, has various unique traits that enable diverse organisations to deal with complexity and unforeseen disruptions while also producing products more effectively.
People, machines and resources in a smart factory interact with one another as naturally as it would in a social network to produced sustainable and economical products.
The market for Industry 4.0 was valued at $86.03 billion in 2020, and is predicted to increase at the rate of 20.71 per cent to $267.01bn by 2026.
The global coronavirus outbreak is projected to accelerate the adoption of Industry 4.0 and improve pandemic preparedness in the future. This is because, in the event of a pandemic, technology such as automation and robotics can help reduce human dependence while also allowing the human workforce to protect itself from these risks. It also boosts productivity, preventing plant shutdowns during a crisis.
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