Creating value with Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things

Bernhard Meyer, SAP Global Solution Manager

What was considered science fiction a few years ago is fast becoming present day reality. But while it is fundamental to remain aware of the latest technology trends to stay informed many misinterpret technology as the only component essential to drive innovation. Sustainable business success also relies on the implementation of innovation in practice, which requires fostering innovation culture and using design for human-centered digital transformation.

While many CEOs understand the importance of Machine Intelligence and AIoT for their company, there is still a huge percentage who are moving too slowly on putting a concrete AIoT strategy in place. Kathryn Gerardino-Elagio attended one of the forums in TIMTOS 2019 Technology Summit and reports about the fundamentals of Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things.  

Bernhard Meyer, SAP Global Solution Manager, Industry Business Unit, Industrial Machinery & Components (IM&C) began his keynote with a quote from Bruce Sterling: “The Internet of Things is not about THINGS,” and also “Not about INTERNET”, says unnamed SAP colleagues.

So how can SA help customers create value with Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things in discrete industries? He explains that the key technology trends shaping the discrete industry are: Mobile Network Computing- affordable access to information; Social Media- knowledge shared in communities; Internet of Things- connected via one protocol; Machine 2 Machine- self regulation; and Big Data & Predictive Analytics- understanding and extrapolation.

Industrial machines are incredibly complex and manufacturers are under pressure from customers to meet several new production requirements. This includes designing tools that can be rapidly adapted to new products and building machines that can be quickly integrated into existing plants. Customers expect these machines to achieve maximum daily uptime. The machines must also to be built with enough forward-thinking design flexibility that they remain useful and productive as technology continues to evolve.

In order to meet the innovation challenges of smart machine era, business owners and leaders will need to be on top of their game when it comes to understanding these trends. Smart machines will have to be matched by ‘smart businesses’ that know how to compete and stay relevant as digital technologies and automation become even more ubiquitous and start to dominate the workplace.

He added that the real reason for IoT and Industry 4.0 projects are to lower cost, increased uptime, new products and services, optimized productivity, less waste, improved turnarounds, new revenue, faster deliveries, usage-based pricing, greater capacity, better efficiency and new business models.

According to Bernhard, SAP’s framework for the intelligent enterprise connects the four worlds of data, intelligence, enterprise processes, and business networks. This framework lays the foundation of the Intelligent Enterprise that is going to dominate all industries in the future, and will allow businesses to achieve desired outcomes faster, with less risk, and become a smart best-run business.

Bernhard encourages attendees to stay curious and change now while they can, rather than when they will have to. The sooner they start, the more time they will have to address the challenges that are waiting ahead, and improve processes with more data and intelligence.