Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1437657
ADI | Industry 4.0 and Beyond Accelerating the Transition to Industry 4.0 with Industrial Ethernet Connectivity 4 Fiona Treacy Strategic Marketing Manager The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is changing the way we create products thanks to the digitization of our manufacturing and process facilities. We have seen the benefits of automation over many decades and are now fueling these systems with enhanced data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Today, autonomous systems are becoming more interconnected and are communicating, analyzing, and interpreting data to enable auxiliary intelligent decisions and actions in other factory areas. Smart factory initiatives are creating new business value by increasing output, asset utilization, and overall productivity. They are leveraging new data streams to enable flexibility and refine quality while reducing energy consumption and residual waste. Increasingly, edge-to-cloud connected intelligent systems enable manufacturing environments to become more efficient by adapting in support of mass customization. Industry 4.0 benefits are predicated on leveraging increased data for better decision-making. Timely access to the data and the delivery of that data throughout the automation system hinges on the connectivity network. Networking technology must evolve to handle the increased data volume, and the manufacturers' processes and methodologies. An intelligent, interconnected automation environment requires digitally connected systems, machines, robots, etc., creating and sharing information. How these machines communicate and the factory communications network they use is at the heart of the enterprise and the enabler for our Industry 4.0 ambition.