The first industrial revolution started in the 18th century with the use of steam power, which made it possible to mechanize production.
The second revolution was marked by the use of late XIX centuries of electricity, which contributed to the development of mass production.
The third, which arose in the 1950s and continues to this day, gave the world electronics and Information Technology who manage production today. And now, in parallel with it, the stage of a new industrial revolution has begun, the transition to the so-called Industry 4.0.
At the beginning of this year, the 46th meeting of the World Economic Forum took place in Davos, Switzerland, the title theme of which was the fourth industrial revolution.
As the founder and permanent president of the forum, Klaus Schwab, stated in his speech, humanity is on the verge of changes that have never been analogous, and this was demonstrated by the HUBO robot, which became a "participant" of the event.
He was "born" after an accident in 2011 on a Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima as a result of a competition to create a rescue robot capable of performing diverse tasks in hazardous conditions. The winner was the bipedal android HUBO from the Korea Institute of Advanced Technology KAIST. He has human proportions - a height of 180 cm and a weight of 80 kg, he can move independently, recognize people's faces and speech. At the same time, its sensors and software allow it to go beyond the boundaries of what is possible for a person - for example, the robot's eyes act independently of each other, exploring the area in detail and forming its three-dimensional map. HUBO is able to perform a chain of actions, including moving over difficult terrain, clearing debris, using various working tools, and even driving an SUV.
What is Industry 4.0?
Industry 4.0 is characterized by a combination of technologies “that blur the boundaries between the physical, digital and biological realms,” said Klaus Schwab. Thus, rather, we are talking about a symbiosis of several phenomena, among which robotization is only one of many. There are, for example, neural networks - the "collective brain", the Internet of Things - a network of objects that can interact with each other and external environment, perceive commands and "collectively" execute them.
The transition to Industry 4.0 is obviously associated with the deepening of the achievements of the third industrial revolution - high-tech solutions. This has the potential to reshape the labor market in significant ways, as innovation can eliminate human participation in many areas of production.
How will we live in the era of Industry 4.0?
The Davos Forum has prepared a special report, The Future of Jobs, dedicated to this topic. Experts surveyed 2.5 thousand companies in countries where more than half of the total world workforce is employed - in the USA, Germany, Japan, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa. The conclusions are as follows: the revolution is inevitable, it will lead to an increase in demand for managers and specialists employed in high-tech fields, many of whom will work in "virtual offices" located in different parts of the world.
Hundreds of professions will die out, hundreds of others will emerge. According to researchers, about 65% of children who are now sent to primary school, will work in specialties that do not yet exist. At the same time, in addition to information and computer literacy, the ability to learn, critical thinking and self-control will become the basic skills for the professionals of the future. Actually we are talking that the younger generation will not be satisfied with the specialty received after school, their labor path will necessarily be associated with adaptation to emerging challenges and continuous development.
Similar issues are being actively discussed in our country. For several years now, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) and the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo have been implementing a project called the Atlas of New Professions (and I already wrote about this here a couple of years ago).
The Atlas describes the key trends affecting the development of the situation on the labor market, analyzes the state of affairs in all basic sectors of the economy, and, in addition, contains a list of 180 professions most in demand in the future. The head of the ASI Andrey Nikitin urges: “Show the Atlas to the children. Maybe your child will find in him the future he dreams of.
With a high degree of certainty, the compilers of the Atlas say, the following trends can be predicted - globalization (including a team of specialists from different countries working remotely), the introduction of complex management systems, automation and the use of programmable devices (and the same "Internet things"), the growing requirements for environmental friendliness.
The trends of the new industrial revolution are realized in different ways in different industries.
For example, the mining and metallurgical industry in the future will inevitably be influenced by such global processes as robotization and automation. The industry will turn towards cleaner production, improving the quality of technological processes. And gradually "white" metallurgy will become the norm - a philosophy, the postulates of which are the introduction of the best technologies, a high level of personnel education, environmental friendliness, and comfortable working conditions. At the same time, workers will perform fewer physical operations than they do now. This will take root especially firmly even in mining rather than processing. Moreover, we are talking not only about the production sites themselves, but also about auxiliary units. Unmanned technologies will be introduced more often, and employees will start working remotely in virtual teams and telemetry systems. In some cases, production will develop with a minimum number of people and a large number of technologies that make up for their absence (for example, remote medicine).
Separate metallurgical professions (and there are now more than 500 of them) will begin to decline, and new ones will take their place. For example, there will be equipment supervisors (to maintain complex equipment), “ecorecyclers” (to solve the problems of waste disposal and restoration environment), designers of new metals (to create alloys with specified or changing properties), designers of powder metallurgy equipment (to obtain metals at the junction of different sciences).
In the mining sector, demand is forecast for system mining engineers (to work with nature management facilities at full life cycle), eco-analysts (for the analysis of threats to the environment), telemetry interpreters (with the proviso that in the future these functions can also be performed by a machine), robotic systems engineers, unmanned vehicle operators (for field exploration), coordinators of distributed tunneling teams.
Study - not only at school and university, but throughout life
It is predicted that the demand for a number of specialists will steadily fall. This list includes such professions that are popular among today's graduates as an accountant, analyst, legal adviser, notary, logistician, translator. And today, for example, the profession of a travel agent is disappearing, which is facilitated by the growing popularity of online booking services and computer literacy of the population.
Along with these trends, the demand for cross-industry competencies is growing.
However, the question arises: where will the personnel for the new economy be trained? ASI expects, together with the Ministry of Labor and other interested authorities, to issue an official list of new and promising professions for which standards will be developed. Then we can finally talk about the beginning of personnel training.
The picture of the future described in studies and documents may not be fully realized, because life is richer. There are also requests from practitioners - employers, there are also private initiatives that develop new areas social development, there are also events like the WorldSkills international championships - they also develop professional and educational standards.
But one thing is clear: the professional of the future, if necessary, will have to easily and quickly reorganize and retrain for new tasks and new activities.
(Based on materials by Maria Bogorodskaya using the corporate media of METALLOINVEST Management Company LLC)
The concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)
Propaganda myth or "sign of trouble"
The “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, for short 4IR, is positioned as a massive introduction of robotics and digital control technologies, which will reduce the dependence of industry on labor costs and give an additional impetus to the localization of the real sector. In fact, 4PR is a globalization and universalization of the principles of "distributed" production and access to finance. No more, but no less. And there is nothing fundamentally new in this approach: its key elements were tested back in the 1980s both at the production and management levels.
- There is no new energy platform. We use roughly the same energy platforms as 30 years ago, and the advertised "alternative" energy sources are actually the most archaic (apart from the question of their profitability).
- There is no new transport platform. Mostly technologies from the 1980s are used, even in the field of space exploration. Despite shifts in social accessibility certain types transport (primarily high-speed), there was no strategic breakthrough. decline logistics costs achieved mainly through organizational measures.
- There was no mass introduction of fundamentally new materials. There are advances in the field of new materials and the creation of new properties for old materials, but nothing globally revolutionary is happening in practice.
- There are no revolutionary changes in the field of energy efficiency of production. Although there are some, we emphasize, evolutionary shifts in reducing the energy intensity of social life, which, however, are not always adequate in terms of "cost-effectiveness".
Consider the principles of one of the key economic innovations of the 1980-90s - Toyota Production System. If we put aside the ideological and motivational part (“kaizen”), they mainly affect the service, logistics and management components of the production process. The principles of Toyota, in essence, are managerial post-industrialism, i.e. managing not so much resources as time and space, key components of the post-industrial world. This approach is absolutely consistent with the ideas of 4PR.
From a strategic point of view, the cumulative effect of the changes in the 1980s was greater. But they were not considered capable of changing the essence economic relations. And the totality of these changes was not seen as a globally catastrophic event that could bury the entire previous economic order. There are only prerequisites for the restructuring of some, but by no means all aspects in the functioning of the real sector of the world economy. which will inevitably have serious social consequences. But in itself it is not a revolution.
From the point of view of the strategic effect, the development of the "digital economy" and the 4IR are not so much complementary as mutually competing models for the further development of the global economy. Especially from the point of view of points of withdrawal and models of redistribution of "investment rent". In the "digital economy" key view"production" becomes the possibility of generating "rent" from the investment "air". In 4PR, quite real resources and production remain the source of investment rent.
In fact, there is no real technological - and indeed economic - basis for 4PR, precisely as for a "revolution in industry" does not exist. There are currently only two aspects on the global “agenda” that can be considered truly “revolutionary”: new global logistics and new technologies for global finance.
But until the moment when the new logistics (the new Trans-American Canal, the Great Silk Road, the North-South transport corridor, the pipeline system bypassing economic limitrophes, the Trans-African transport corridor) starts to play a truly global role, another 5 years must pass. 7 years. Naturally, provided that opposition to these projects does not go into an openly forceful phase. In the meantime, the "new logistics" remains only a political and informational factor.
The only element of the 4PR, which in practice has a "revolutionary" significance, is the question of a radical restructuring of financial communications and financial and investment relations in modern economy.
However, the main question arises: what is the focus object of investment processes in the course of the 4IR? Of course, at the initial stage, large investment resources will be required for the technological renewal of existing assets and to address the inevitable social issues that arise in connection with this. And the first 5 years of the "revolution" can be quite favorable for investment, although socially extremely dangerous - and, probably, fraught with serious costs in the developed countries of the industrial world, where a relatively high standard of living and the preservation of the industrial structure of society are combined.
Industrialized countries make up a significant part of not only the developing world, but also the European Union, starting with Germany, where the structure of the economy corresponds to the industrial model even in more than in Russia, and ending with Italy. Not to mention Poland or Spain. Instead of a division between the "northern" and "southern" flanks of the EU, a watershed appears according to the industrial/post-industrial criterion. And it can turn out to be much politically sharper and socially sharper.
On a time lag of 5-7 years, and in historical terms this is an extremely close prospect, there is a risk of a “bubble” forming, in which even the resources “extracted” from financial speculations will not be able to find economically viable assets for investment. Indeed, one of the most important positive circumstances of 4PR is proclaimed to be a fast and relatively comfortable system in economic and managerial terms, which allows for quick operational readjustment. The task of periodic complete renewal of fixed assets, the most capital-intensive element of the modern real sector, is leveled.
That is why the key component of the 4WP is not modernization as such, but the geographical cascading of technological processes, as well as the scaling of production depending on the size and dynamics of markets. And this, by the way, will be a big challenge for the post-Soviet space.
But then the system of calculating competitiveness, which is characteristic of both industrial and post-industrial capitalism, is no longer relevant. The basis is not efficiency, elevated within the framework of financial and investment capitalism to the rank of the highest value, but adaptability, the ability to quickly adapt to changing markets both qualitatively and quantitatively, accessible from the point of view of economically justified logistics. And this is a completely different picture, not only in terms of global issues related to the redistribution of technological and logistics rent, but also in terms of practical investment planning.
The question arises: where should the investment flow be directed? “In the first approximation”, the following directions are seen as such:
- Geographic mobility of assets. Compact uninhabited enterprises outside recognized and well-to-do industrial centers. A sharp decrease in requirements for logistics support. Transition to Lego assembly. In this case, engineering and adaptation of production to the needs of regions or macroregions (glocalization) becomes the main investment focus.
- Basic technological solutions. The key technological rent will arise and be collected precisely at the level of basic technologies, as well as the development and production of key components, the contribution of which to the total cost of production may be small.
- Human capital. Organization of social production (and not just production) space around the assets and social support and trade infrastructure 4PR. But the scale of this potential "investment area" is hardly too large - it will be necessary to equip the infrastructure of sales rather than production.
The proclaimed industrial revolution is almost a return to handicraft adaptive, customized production, but - and this is very important - with the removal of restrictions on access to investment resources and a sharp increase in the "connectivity" of technological and operational processes, which is achieved through the widespread use of "blockchain" technologies. » in addition to the financial sector. The “factory-industrial” model is losing the advantage of scale, which was already one of the key ones in the first half of the 2000s.
Even a superficial consideration of the issue of 4PR brings us to the conclusion: it is definitely not in the industry, but, first of all, in financial and logistical support. As well as the possibility of the final separation of the management link from the assets.
If we use the Soviet paradigm, then from the invariable triad "director-party organizer- Chief Engineer Oddly enough, the party organizer, whose function will be to ensure social stability in production, remains in demand within the framework of the new system. "Director" (not in the sense of position, but in the sense of function) can become an equally "remote" figure. Such as now is a "shareholder". And the “chief engineer” can be partially automated (diagnostics), partially outsourced (change of engineering solution).
And the very concept of "property" in the new economy becomes, at least, "mosaic". But if the property is "mosaic", how can we talk about the preservation of the traditional approach to investment? To what extent is it possible in principle to invest in property, the real beneficiary, which exists only in a “dispersed form” in the blockchain network? Is it possible to invest in such property resources that are liquid outside of virtual finance?
It is also important that the "investment cycles" formed in recent years in the global economy turned out to be burdened with a gigantic volume of investment derivatives and surrogates. Economic priorities with distorted market motivation began to play an excessive role. For example, stimulating investment in countries with high unemployment and cheap labor force. Classic examples: Bangladesh, African countries, Pakistan, India. But it is worth remembering the industrial part of Latin America, a number of Asia-Pacific countries classified as "industrial" tigers.We state: in the conditions of excessive “humanization of investment priorities”, it is extremely difficult to implement the principles of the 4IR. In order to successfully at least start the “fourth industrial revolution”, even in the systemically inferior form as it is currently interpreted, it will be necessary to dehumanize the investment, and then the operating space. Simply put, the 4IR operating space must become "socially irresponsible."
But then the ideal space for the “revolution” becomes the “investment wasteland”, where there is no depressing social and humanitarian burden.
For the 4IR, it will be necessary to "clear" the space of previously established socio-economic obligations and reset the investment cycles formed over the past 25-30 years. Starting with the transfer of relations between the “conditional West” and China into the mainstream of exclusively economic competitive interaction. “China” is also a conditional concept, in which the PRC acts as the dominant center of a wider industrial space. Relations between the West and China constitute the key "investment cycle" in the modern economy, which has become too economically "cumbersome", acquiring various "political burdens". But it is impossible to "zero" this cycle without global consequences..
Hence the question: is not the imposition of the idea of the imminence and inevitability of a new industrial revolution part of the preparation for a global investment default? And this is precisely what is hidden under the flowery term "revolution". After all, only after this default, after the inevitable (albeit temporary) regionalization of global finance, will it be possible to assess the consequences and prospects of the new situation not from the point of view of the slogans of the 4IR, which are attractive in themselves, but from the point of view of their real socio-economic content.
) spoke about their company's experience on the way to IKEA Industry Lithuania, System Air, Dovista A/S are just a few Scandinavian companies that decided to start new business in Lithuania. Read more.
The fourth industrial revolution is on the planet. At least, talks about it have been going on for several years, especially after in 2011, when the issue of holding it was raised at the official level in Germany, the country's authorities proclaimed a course towards the introduction of "smart production" or "Industry 4.0".
© Vladimir Grigoriev / Photobank Lori
Why fourth? The first revolution took place in the 19th century due to the massive introduction of steam engines, the second - in the first half of the 20th century on the basis of electrification and electric motors, and the third - at the very end of the last century, it is based on automation and computers. The fourth is the supposed continuation of the third, but at a higher level, its main slogan is the so-called cyber-physical systems, that is, a close synthesis of computational and technological processes, when computer programs control production, and at the same time, chips and sensors make all the material elements of production parts of a single information systems.
A fine line
The line between the "third" and "fourth" revolutions is, of course, very thin. As the director of the project office explained to Internet Foresight according to RC Group data Anatoly Gneushev, the existing model of the economy is based on the idea of increasing production efficiency through automation without changing the technological processes themselves. At their core, these processes can exist without IT. But as a result of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is IT that will become the core of business and lead to an irreversible transformation in production and business. All decisions in the digital economy will be made based on the capabilities and resources of IT. The technological basis for the transition to a new paradigm is the industrial Internet of things. Thanks to it, production will be managed in real time by an intelligent system through interaction with the global environment. All technical devices will give feedback and make technological decisions with subsequent reconfiguration of production. Data will be the core of the organization.
After the presentation of the concept of "Industry 4.0" in Germany, it was developed in the USA, China and other countries. To develop the idea, in 2017 the Japanese government announced a large-scale concept of the country's social development - Super Smart Society ("Super-Intellectual Society"), or "Society 5.0", which involves the use of the industrial Internet of things, robotics and artificial intelligence both in everyday life and in production. and in the social sphere.
In South Korea, the government approved a bill in March establishing qualification certification for new jobs related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as robotics software developers, robotics hardware developers, 3D printer developers, and medical information analysts.
According to the head of the product promotion department of the industrial automation department of Mitsubishi Electric Andrey Vorobyov, in Industry 4.0, three main components can be distinguished: additive technologies - that is, 3D printers and everything connected with it, the industrial Internet of things and "big data". According to Vorobyov, it is the last of the three components that is the most important.
“If we seek high-quality processed information, then we are waiting for a high-quality analysis of production. As a result, we can see the disadvantages or advantages of production. Data analysis is now almost instantaneous, and you can immediately see what data from any mechanism, sensor and machine is, and what is missing.”
Without human intervention
As an example of the action "Industry 4.0." you can bring the German company Adidas. If cheap labor is used at the factories of this sportswear manufacturer in Asia and Mexico, then in Germany at the Adidas factory, human participation is minimal. People only set the program on the computer and periodically control its work.
At Mitsubishi Electric factories, according to Vorobyov, the offensive of "Industry 4.0." manifests itself, first of all, in the implementation of the platform, which provides a continuous flow of information at all levels: from the shop floor to the administration. The system allows the integration of industrial equipment and various communication systems used by people, which allows the management of enterprises to have more operational control of what is happening in production.
The "fourth revolution" comes when all-inclusive information platforms begin to interact with automated production units. Therefore, the revolution comes from two sides: through the introduction of new information systems and through the arrival of robots in production. Robotization of industry began at the end of the 20th century, but its spread was delayed due to the transfer of industrial capacities to China and other countries with cheap labor. Now the second offensive of industrial and service robots has begun. For example, Newtech has introduced robots to the market that cut confectionery with pinpoint accuracy.
© Igor Dolgov / Photobank Lori
How this might look like, the Invest-Foresight journalist observed at the automated logistics warehouse of the German company fischer, where only one function is left for a person: shifting products from the boxes in which they are stored in warehouses into boxes sent to the final consumer. At the same time, special shuttle robots remove the boxes from the warehouse shelves, bring them to the stacker's workplace, then the computer system explains to the stacker how many units of products from which box should be transferred to which box, and then also controls people so that they do not make mistakes when shifting . Then he returns the box back to the warehouse shelf.
In general, it is easier to automate warehouses than industrial lines.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that in the March report of the Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan Timur Suleimenov dedicated to “creating a new model of economic growth”, states that “the transport and logistics sectors can be considered as a natural starting point for Kazakhstan in Industry 4.0, building the entire logistics value chain, including warehousing, freight transportation and last mile delivery” ".
Kazakhstan, in principle, overtook Russia, at least in terms of the level of awareness of the tasks facing the industry. In February, the Ministry for Investments and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan announced its intention to begin the systematic introduction of elements of the "fourth industrial revolution" in Kazakhstan. As stated in the press release, in order to ensure “sustainable accelerated growth industrial production”, the ministry plans in partnership with leading global companies during 2017 to identify industry sectors that are best prepared to introduce elements of the new economy.
“In these sectors, projects will be implemented to introduce Industry 4.0 technologies with further dissemination of experience to other enterprises and sectors,” the agency said in a release.
The “Kazakhstan Institute for Industry Development” has previously agreed with the Fraunhofer Institute (Germany) to conduct a diagnosis: to what extent the manufacturing sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan is ready to introduce elements of Industry 4.0, as well as to develop systemic recommendations to accelerate the introduction of elements into the manufacturing industry.
Russia froze on the threshold
Are there examples of the implementation of Industry 4.0 in Russia?
“Today Russia cannot boast significant contribution in the development of technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, ”the expert believes investment company ZERICH Capital Management Oleg Yakushev.
So far, Russia is "on the verge" of a future revolution. Rostelecom, for example, is busy with industrial Internet implementation projects in such well-known corporations as Gazprom Neft and UTair. According to the director of IIoT projects of the Restream company (subsidiary of Rostelecom) Alexey Kulchitsky, many Russian companies are already starting pilot projects for the introduction of the industrial Internet, but in the vast majority of cases - within the framework of local solutions, that is, without the use of platform technologies, and therefore they are still far from a revolution. According to the expert, the main reason for this is the lack of uniform standards for the industrial Internet, which sometimes leads to the impossibility of integrating all solutions “under one roof”. Plays its role and distrust on the part of enterprises to place all processed information in the "cloud".
“The formation of standards is the main priority for all companies involved in the development of IIoT platform solutions,” explains Alexey Kulchitsky. “That’s what the National Industrial Internet Consortium was created for—to define the ‘rules of the game’.”
President of Haltek group of companies Alexander Khramov told Invest-Foresight that his company is busy introducing cyber production and automated lines on Russian enterprises to which Haltek supplies machines. Machine tools combined in lines produce parts without human intervention. On the "conveyor" creativity is not needed, so the use of robots in the production of repeatable even small-scale parts, according to Khramov, "justifies itself many times over." As a typical example, he cites the introduction of automated lines at one of the Kazan plants. As a result, an automated section appeared at the plant where the machines are serviced by a robot, and the robot directly accesses the server of control programs and loads these programs into machines for processing parts. The site allows in automatic mode, without human intervention, to fully ensure the work of one shift, and with a constant load it is able to work around the clock.
“A simple refinement of the equipment for connecting the robot (pneumatic cylinders for opening doors, contact sensors, air supply for devices, software improvements) made it possible to form an independent automated cell that can work without human intervention,” Khramov explains.
In the future, the management of the plant set the task of organizing the loading / unloading of large-sized parts to / from fixtures using a robot. At another enterprise in the aviation industry, Haltek managed to create a robotic section for metalworking parts.
“Unfortunately, there is no one on the market to brag about the implemented platform solutions that characterize the industrial revolution 4.0. However, the ongoing pilot projects certainly show that we are on the verge of global changes,” Alexey Kulchitsky is sure.
At the same time, it should be borne in mind that there is simply no information about many innovative projects. For example, the editors of Invest-Foresight learned that many elements of Industry 4.0. implemented at the Samara enterprise of the Bosch company. The details of the project, however, could not be found out.
“In Russia there are very modern enterprises, but the management of these enterprises is unlikely to want someone to talk about their production, their concept, since in this moment this is their advantage in the market. Andrey Vorobyov from Mitsubishi Electric. - I know that such companies already exist in microelectronics, they fully meet the highest requirements in the world and are in no way inferior to European, American or Japanese ones. Japanese factories adopted the platform in the early 2000s and did not disclose their know-how at the initial stage.”
At the level of official documents, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has not yet become a state task, but at the level of advanced enterprises there are already projects that pave the way for radical changes. “Industrial Internet” and “Industry 4.0.” will quite possibly become the most fashionable words-slogans in the investment sphere in the coming years.
Everywhere automation and robotization production processes in the global industry began in the 1970s. This period is usually called the third industrial revolution - by analogy with the industrial revolution of the late 18th century, marked by the invention of steam energy and mechanical devices, and the second half of the 19th century, when Electric Energy and there was a division of labor. It would seem that fantasy has already become a reality: 15-20 years ago, not a single enterprise manager could dream of the level of labor productivity that automation ensured. However, today we understand that a mechanism has been launched, perhaps even more ambitious changes that will once again turn our lives upside down.
The concept of "Industry 4.0", or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, provides for the end-to-end digitalization of all physical assets of an enterprise and their integration into a single ecosystem. It seems to be new paradigm- new opportunities for everyone. But history proves that a change in formation can be the beginning of the end for those enterprises that were not ready for it. It depends only on us whether the changes will give a new impetus to business growth or lead to the decline of entire sectors of the economy.
Digital is not a fashion toy, but a way of survival
Industry 4.0, digital, artificial intelligence, machine learning - these concepts are talked about so often that one gets the feeling that this is nothing more than another fashion. But for businesses, approaching Industry 4.0 tools as fashion trends is a waste of resources. Of course, you can earn a couple of points this way, creating a reputation as an “innovative company”. But only a deep understanding of the opportunities and risks that Industry 4.0 brings to business, as well as a systematic approach in which new tools are integrated into the company's strategy at all levels, will bring long-term benefits. What we call digital transformation.
Digital transformation in our understanding is a way to adapt to rapidly changing conditions and, ultimately, a way to survive in competition. The steel markets in which Severstal operates are very competitive. The situation is aggravated by the unresolved problem of excess capacity. This creates a constant "tension" in the industry: daily steelmakers are fighting for each customer, for a fraction of a percent of the cost. But the situation also has positive aspects. There is a famous saying: “Where there is no competition, one sleeps better, but one lives worse.” So we prefer better life restful sleep. Competition is one of necessary conditions development of a market economy, it forces companies to leave their comfort zone and constantly look for new growth points. The possibilities of Industry 4.0 can become such a point of growth for metallurgists, when the classic efficiency tools begin to exhaust themselves.
Russian steelmakers have invested heavily in their assets over the past decade. Contrary to stereotypes about obsolete Soviet-era equipment, domestic enterprises today - the most effective and high-margin in the world. Thus, Severstal consistently shows the best profitability in terms of EBITDA among global competitors (32.2% in the first 9 months of 2017 - HBR - Russia). But will we keep our leadership if we stop there, and international competitors go further? IN modern world the ability to timely use the opportunities that the development of society opens up every day is an indispensable condition for the success of a business.
McKinsey experts estimate the potential effect of using Industry 4.0 tools in the steel industry at more than $115 billion. Among the main sources of additional income are robotics, remote control and management of equipment, increasing the efficiency of employees through digitalization, the introduction of integrated platforms, deep data analytics and predictive tools. Only thanks to the digitalization of equipment management, the industry can earn more than $40 billion. In metallurgy and mining in general, additional income is projected at the level of 2.7% of the revenue of all companies in the industry or 9% of their profit. If we do not take advantage of these opportunities today, competitors will take over tomorrow, and we will get the sad fate of catching up, or, in other words, lagging behind.
Technology has also changed the relationship between customer and seller. Online sales tools have appeared that allow you to satisfy the basic needs of buyers as much as possible: speed, convenience and simplicity. This was quickly understood by B2C players who are used to working with a large number of clients. But for B2B buyers, convenience and simplicity are also important. Severstal launched an online store where you can buy steel products from stock or on order in five clicks. Already in 2018, we plan to sell about 30% of our products via the Internet.
Significant progress is noticeable in the creation of so-called "materials of the new generation" - for example, graphene. It becomes possible to make products from a combination various materials, say, with the help of 3D printing. These trends also cannot be ignored in order not to miss the chance to enter new markets. True, we are not too optimistic about the timing of the introduction of these technologies in mass production. We recently conducted an experiment: we printed a piece of rebar on a 3D printer. It cost us thousands of times more than the fittings produced traditional way. That is, the technology exists, and with its help it is possible to implement single projects - the question is how economically justified they are. At the same time, we are trying out 3D printing technologies - for example, to apply bronze and nickel layers to certain parts of the equipment. And these projects allow us, on the contrary, to reduce costs.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE OF SEVERSTAL
Bet on professionals
But the medal has another side. History shows that predicting which technology or platform will “shoot” is akin to guesswork. In addition, even the most effective innovative solution, implemented when the market or corporation is not ready for it, will fail. However, the technology chosen and presented to the market at the right time can radically change not only the company, but also, to some extent, the global economic paradigm. As they say, winner takes it all. Suffice it to recall examples of companies such as Uber, Facebook or Ethereum.
But these are all companies of the so-called "new" economy. The application of innovations in traditional, established industries, where discipline is at the forefront, and any inaccuracy in the operation of expensive equipment can lead to significant losses, has its own specifics. The implementation of a particular technology sometimes takes years - this is largely due to cultural barriers, in particular, the fear of taking risks and experimenting. And working with innovation does come with risks. Treating digitalization tools as a panacea, thoughtlessly using solutions that appear on the market, is, to put it mildly, inefficient. Therefore, it is important to develop a comprehensive system within the company that encourages initiative and experimentation and at the same time manages risk. The only reasonable way to reduce the likelihood of rash decisions is professional expertise, both internal and external.
Having come to grips with the topic of digitalization in 2016, at the beginning of 2017, we at Severstal introduced the position of director of digital technology development and hired a professional who assembled one of the strongest digital teams in the Russian industry. We also work with the largest Russian and international providers. We are only at the beginning of the journey, but we are already seeing the first results.
Digital Industry 4.0, Industry 4 0, Industry 4.0 Technologies, Industry 4.0 fourth industrial revolution, Klaus Schwab fourth industrial revolution | Design company Vys ">
The concept of " Industry 4.0” is synonymous with the fourth industrial revolution, under this name projects of the fourth industrial revolution are combined and implemented in enterprises. This direction was created in Germany and presented at the exhibition in Hannover, and this happened due to the fact that earlier the German government demanded a wider introduction of digital technologies into production. The term "Industry 4.0" also refers to Government program Germany to develop the economy by creating automated, communicating with the external environment, as well as personalized digital industries. To date, it is Germany that is leading the pace of development of Industry 4.0. But similar programs are being implemented in other countries, for example, in China - "Made in China 2025", in Japan - "Connected Factories" connecting factories to the network, in the USA - Industrial Internet, etc. These programs will dramatically increase the competitiveness of producers in these countries and they will become market leaders.
Industry 4.0 is leading to the massive introduction of cyber-physical systems in production, to the automation of most production processes, the provision of devices artificial intelligence and implementation of many other modern technologies. All this has a significant effect on increasing productivity and reducing production costs.
That is why Adidas is moving its factories from Asia back to Germany, as robots will create sneakers much faster and cheaper, while sneakers do not need to be transported from Asia to Germany, as well as pay customs duties, logistics costs, etc.
In addition, Industry 4.0 allows you to make the market personalized, i.e. the priority is the development and production of products individually for each person. Today, factories still create the same product in large quantities to create the same product but in a different color, size or design, they need to retool the equipment. Industry 4.0 allows you to create mass production of individual orders, while the price of products will be lower.
So, for a factory that produces liquid soap, equipment has been developed that reads from a microchip sewn into a bottle, with which aroma the soap was ordered and pours the soap in accordance with the order, while the bottles move along the conveyor one after another, but different soaps are poured. And Nike provides the opportunity to colorize their sneakers in mobile application or on your website and place an order for sneakers of your color, individually for you.
First industrial revolution was the invention of the steam engine in the second half of the 17th century in Great Britain. But the period of the revolution covers the XVIII-XIX centuries, in different countries The revolution didn't happen at the same time. Steam engines were used in pumps, then in steam locomotives, steamships, and also in production. Steam energy influenced the development of metallurgy, mechanical engineering, transport and other industries. There was a transition from manual labor to mechanical labor and there was a sharp increase in productivity.
Second industrial revolution associated with the invention of the assembly line by Henry Ford and mass production. The period covers the times from the second half of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th centuries. During this period, many other inventions were also born, the Bessemer method of smelting steel, as the first inexpensive way to obtain high-quality steel, electrical energy, the widespread use of chemicals, telephone, telegraph, etc.
Third industrial revolution or "Digital Revolution" took place at the end of the 20th century (since 1970) and is associated with the development of electronics, digitalization, computerization, information systems, as well as the invention of the robot.
Fourth industrial revolution originates in 2011 as the German public-private program industrie 4.0, in which German companies, with the support of the federal government in the form of grants, create digital, smart factories whose devices and products interact with each other and provide personalized output.
Industry 4.0 principles
In Germany, some principles of Industry 4.0 have been formulated:
1. Compatibility– all devices and machines must be able to communicate with each other in the same language via the Internet of things, i.e. they must be compatible.
2. Transparency– creating a digital copy of the product, collecting data from microchips and sensors through which devices communicate.
3. Technical support - the software collects, analyzes, systematizes, visualizes data received from sensors, and helps a person make a decision or makes them automatically, thereby freeing up human resources.
4. Decentralization management decisions , automation various solutions systems, the most complete human substitution.
What is important?
One of the important components of Industry 4.0 is not a product, but data. The digitalization of production is associated with data, large amounts of data that need to be read, collected, analyzed, systematized, processed, stored, transmitted, presented in the right form, and much more. This requires appropriate Information Systems, software, means of wireless data transmission, cloud services for data exchange and storage.
Almost all objects and devices will include microchips and sensors through which they will communicate with each other. By 2025, it is planned to connect 75.4 billion items to the Internet.
A language is required for communication between devices of different brands.
Elements of Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 covers all kinds of areas and technologies. Industry 4.0 Technologies:
1. Additive technologies,
2. Simulation and
3. Systems integration
4. Internet of Things
5. Cybersecurity
6. Cloud services
7.
8. Virtual Reality
9. Autonomous robots, robotization
10. Planning and analysis online
11. Artificial intelligence
12. Energy efficient technologies
13. Alternative energy
14. Big data and analytics
15. Remote service
The combination of all these components of Industry 4.0 will make the enterprise as automated and competitive as possible, and therefore number 1 in the world market.
Examples of Industry 4.0
Projects are born one after another, the field of activity is vast, but the most famous of them, and which have already declared themselves, can be cited as an example of Industry 4.0.
9. Remote configuration of equipment for the production of smart products.
10. Monitoring of all production, technological and other processes. For example, monitoring the delivery of a product from the manufacturer to the end user.
11. Intrashop movement of parts without human intervention.
12. And many others.
On the other hand
There is also a negative side of the Industry 4.0 coin. Mass robotization and automation will lead to the release of jobs, a large number of people may be left without work, retraining of specialists for other professions will be required, but many new professions will also appear.
The value of low- and medium-skilled labor will be drastically reduced, which could lead to lower incomes and material benefits for the middle class. The transition to highly skilled labor is quite difficult and will not be available to everyone. The middle class makes up a wide stratum of the country's population and a decrease in the income of the middle class can lead to a loosening of the political system in the country.
There is also a presumption that the low purchasing power of the population caused by Industry 4.0 will lead to low demand for products, and the profitability of many enterprises producing non-essential products will be in question.
There will be a stark difference between countries that have successfully implemented Industry 4.0 and countries that are lagging behind. World wealth will be concentrated in the countries of the winners, as they will be an order of magnitude more competitive. Many businesses that fail to transform will close, regardless of their prominence and long pre-Industry 4.0 success.
Due to the fact that the fourth industrial revolution is associated with data, the Internet, digital technologies, then there is a threat information security, a threat hacker attacks, equipment failure, theft of secret information of military production, as well as information that has a commercial secret of the enterprise. Therefore, the implementation of information security and anti-virus software is required.
Also, the danger is that automation will replace the mental and physical activities of people, production workers will only watch the robots, and thus people can atrophy memory and other brain functions. It is necessary to involve people in solving various problems for universal development.
Summary
How the fourth industrial revolution will be implemented is not actually known, Klaus Schwab himself speaks about this - perhaps Industry 4.0 will be implemented simultaneously according to several scenarios known to us from past industrial revolutions.
Industry 4.0 will allow reaching a new level of human development and quality of life. It will change the attitude of people and people themselves.
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