The term Industry 4.0 or Fourth Industrial Revolution or i4.0 was first introduced in 2011 by a team of scientists developing a high-tech strategy for the German government. However, it was the World Economic Forum (WEF), which introduced the phrase to a wider audience in a 2015 article “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution"" and further popularized it when it was the main 2016 theme of the WEF Annual Meeting, in Davos, Switzerland.

The German government took early lead in initiating a strong collaboration between its various government agencies, mfg. industry participants and academia to jointly take up pilot projects and set up model factories. This would enable the aspirant mfg. companies to follow suit in their digital transformation journey. On similar lines, later on, the World Economic Forum (WEF) also launched a large-scale global initiative, namely the Global Lighthouse Network. This community of manufacturers shows leadership in using Industry 4.0 technologies to transform factories, value chains, and business models for compelling financial and operational returns. To encourage and accelerate a more comprehensive and inclusive adoption of advanced technologies in manufacturing, the WEF’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains has set up the Global Lighthouse Network. 

Taking immediate cue from the German governments’ local and WEF’s global initiatives, the Indian government conceived and then launched in Dec-2017, the Centre for Industry 4.0 (C4i4), Pune, India. It functions under the aegis of the Make in India program. It is an organization that aims to drive Industry 4.0 adoption across all the mfg. sectors, especially in the MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), by providing a roadmap for digital transformation through consultancy services and skill development. This center at Pune is part of a larger network, SAMARTH (Smart Automated Manufacturing and Rapid Transformation Hub) Udyog, which is a national initiative by the Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), Government of India. It operates on a PPP (Public Private Partnership) model with approximately 75% funding from the government.

Though MSMEs contribute significantly to India’s manufacturing output and exports, most of them lack access to markets beyond their limited geography. C4i4 helps them scale productivity and quality and compete in global marketsalong with their journey towards digitization.

Quadrant Knowledge Solutions (QKS) is a leading strategic consulting, research, and advisory firm. Narayan Gokhale (Associate Research Director) who leads their IoT and Digitalization domain recently visited the C4i4 Lab in Pune, India. QKS’s research in their “IoT and Digitalization” domain covers IT/OT/ET integration with topics, such as, IIoT platforms, OT Cyber Security, Mfg. Execution Systems, Field Service Management, Enterprise AR / VR platforms, Industrial Metaverse, Digital Twins platforms, Edge Computing, Product Lifecycle Management platforms etc.

Experience Center: C4i4 Lab tour begins with the Experience Center. The first exhibit provides background information relating to the first, second, third and leading to the fourth industrial revolutions with timelines, historical milestones, interesting snippets, and the economic impact it had on the major economies. The next exhibit showcases Industry 4.0 initiatives undertaken by various countries. Industry 4.0 is built on 9 technology pillars. These advancements bridge the digital and physical worlds and make autonomous and smart systems possible. The following exhibit showcases these 9 technology pillars, such as, Big Data and Analytics, Robotics (Autonomous Robots), Simulation / Digital Twin, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Augmented Reality, Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing, Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Horizontal & Vertical System Integration.

The central and the largest display is about their Smart 50 Tool, which is a menu of 50 Use Cases, of Industry 4.0 technologies, linked to specific nodes in the value chain. This tool is useful guide for MSMEs to start their digital transformation journey, that will vary on a case-to-case basis depending on the degree of automation required by each in various value chains. This is to ensure that MSMEs must pick and choose technologies that can provide crucial business insights to deliver maximum ROI. These 50 use cases are a part of the mfg. value chain bucketed in 6 categories – Marketing, Sales & Service, Product Design, Raw Materials, Production Management (Assembly, Testing), Logistics (Inbound & Outbound). Out of these 50 uses cases, the mfg. companies are encouraged to select and focus on a few use cases, where both ease of implementation and impact on problem solving are high.

Demonstration Lab: The first part of the demo lab houses a miniature Injection Molding (IM) Machine and a few important use cases are simulated, such as, Real-Time Production Monitoring, Tracking Machine Downtime and Preventive Maintenance, OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness etc.

The second part of the demo lab has an assembly line with robot-arm and machine vision cameras for online inspection of manufactured parts. This is followed by a demo of smart bins, smart warehousing as a part of smart logistics. Another additive mfg. demo takes you through the actual process from scanning objects to conversion to CAD file to manufacturing parts or prototypes through a 3D printer.

i-Factory (Model Factory): The model factory has been set up in such a way that university students as well as industry professionals can actually build some sample products on the assembly line using some of the Industry 4.0 software tools. It starts with customer experience where actual PO is processed in the i-factory system, then to the production-planning stage, then going through availability of all the parts in the stores, followed by the actual production-line assembly where every stag is equipped with digital work instructions. At the finishing point of the assembly line the Cobot puts the final product on to an AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) which takes it to finished goods inventory section for delivery to customer, thereby completing the order to delivery cycle. The assembly line is fully automated with PLC / HMI control system. The hands-on training in the i-Factory gives the participants overview of the basic concepts of Industry 4.0 production strategies.

The technology demonstrations mentioned above are regularly complemented by awareness & training programs as well as industry & academia collaborations. Awareness programmes are conducted in collaboration with Indian and foreign industry experts to intensify Industry 4.0 capability and awareness. These programmes are run at various locations but specifically target designated industry clusters in Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, etc. C4i4 Lab targets skill development for industry enablement learning, model factory demonstrations, assessment and roadmap workshops, and implementation advisory. It also includes training and mentorship ‘Digital Champions Program’. C4i4 Pune has developed a ‘Digital Tool Kit’ for the SMEs in the automobile industry as well as standard implementation advisories for SMEs involved in foundry, forging, plastic moulding, quality management and process operation monitoring.

C4i4 has also developed a Maturity Assessment tool to assist manufacturing organisations across all industries to identify their current state of Industry 4.0 maturity and readiness. The model helps enterprises, in formulating a comprehensive and sustainable digital transformation roadmap. The roadmap includes strategies for effective data capture and aggregation from external and internal sources, and finally for data intelligence to create valuable business insights.

Skill development for academia include collaborations focused on best industry practices, for inclusion in the training curriculum, aid in the up-skilling of faculty and students equally. Experience centres are being set up in some reputed colleges nearby manufacturing clusters in collaboration with industry to improve industry-academia synergy.

It is very apparent that C4i4 Lab Pune, has been successful specifically in promoting adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies through (1) various awareness and training programs, (2) technology demonstrations and (3) industry and academia collaborations; encouraging and guiding Indian manufacturing companies for subsequent implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies.

Government of India now wants to emulate the success of C4i4 Lab, Pune by setting up 10 more such labs in different parts of the country.

Industry 4.0 trans­formations need to focus on capability building and be pursued as a strategic organizational endeavour. It must be backed by top-management. A clear business leadership mindset is required and not just an engineering or IT process focus. Therefore, the key driver, is people centric, not just technology or tool centric. C4i4 Lab seems to have got the right focus and balance to achieve their mission of helping Indian mfg. industries to adapt to Industry 4.0 to make them technologically at par with global standards and thereby making them globally competitive.

Author : Narayan Gokhale Associate Research Director at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions