Demystifying Industry 4.0: Navigating Automation and Augmentation

If there was a use-to-talk ratio for Industry 4.0, the score would be sobering—not because companies are not getting results but because most are a world apart from the engineering vision of a fully automatic factory. One plausible reason for the disappointing uptake is that manufacturing managers are confused about what Industry 4.0 is and what it can deliver for bottom-line performance. It is not surprising; every new hype is surrounded by the promise of newfound land, gloomy visions, and disappointing results. This article reviews the progress toward automatic lights-out factories and presents a simple matrix to help demystify Industry 4.0 and how to pursue it.