05 Oct Towards Industry 4.0

What is industry 4.0?

Have you ever heard of the phrase Industry 4.0? Or the fourth industrial revolution? This is an issue that is becoming more and more commonplace, wherefore – and in order to speak judiciously – we are pleased to have David Fernández, a consultant accredited by the Generalitat de Catalunya in areas of Industry 4.0 and a Rieusset consultant:

• What is Industry 4.0?

“It is a philosophy of factory management that allows us to respond to the demand for ultra-personalized products from our customers. All markets are increasingly demanding “their” product – products adapted to a specific request. A clear example would be to have sodas with your child’s photo or beers with your name and surname. They are products that nobody else has, they are unique. For this, Industry 4.0 applies state-of-the-art technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, virtual reality, augmented reality, collaborative robots (cobots), cloud computing, additive manufacturing or cybersecurity, which together with the integration of various information systems, with MES (Manufacturing Execution System) systems at the center, become a powerful competitive improvement tool. 4.0 refers to the fourth industrial revolution. It is quieter than the previous three because it is based on software bits and ultra-light hardware, but it is much more transversal, universal, shared and influential than the previous ones.”

• What processes does Industry 4.0 affect?

“It affects all processes, not just the factory. Industry 4.0 “opens” the factory to the world, ceasing to be a black box in which unspeakable things happen. It understands the processes from the moment when needs are generated in our market until the customers receive their orders and are satisfied. Obviously, the direct value generation processes arise in the factory, and have to do with the production chain, the maintenance of machines and equipment, the management of product quality processes, and the logistics of reception, dispatch, storage and movement of materials. But it is absolutely essential to automate other administrative processes such as order reception, invoice management or personalized, effective and efficient customer service. Contrary to a trend that seems to be establishing itself among reputed opinion-makers, the involvement and qualification of staff is key and better paid. It is automated to eliminate repetitive operations and those with very low added value in order to enhance all kinds of complex and creative activities. Imagination and creativity are human qualities that a machine can never replace.”

• Why is Industry 4.0 so important?

 “I’ll be very direct: you are either competitive or you disappear. The market demands more for less. More value at a lower price. Not responding to this growing need is equivalent to having problems in the short-to-medium term and disappearing in the medium-to-long term. Currently the market is dominated by the fastest, not the largest. Being fast means being flexible, and that can only be achieved with the implementation of technological tools and solutions in each and every one of the production and corporate processes in general. There are those who are already talking about Company 4.0. Today no one imagines going by car without Google Maps or not resorting to buying on Amazon or eBay, even if it is occasionally. An industrial revolution changes society through the productive fabric. Not understanding this and avoiding the implementation of 4.0 improvements is equivalent to running a huge business viability risk that every managing director or CEO should confront by planning change and making investments. Yes, investing and risking. Not doing so is risking even more … or disappearing from the map.”

Rieusset and Industry 4.0

If there is one thing that characterizes us, it is the mentality of constant improvement and the vocation to be up to date on all the news that affect our sector and the industry in general. We believe in evolution and in changes effectively in order to move towards our goals as a company.

In 2017, Industry 4.0 already piqued our interest and we began to inform ourselves on the subject. In fact, we carried out a first self-diagnostic to evaluate the state of the company with respect to Industry 4.0. The result we obtained determined that Rieusset was within the level called “competent” (a medium level), in other words: a company that incorporates 4.0 initiatives in its strategy.

Years later, in 2019, we resumed the process towards Industry 4.0 and started this project with the idea of improving procedures and taking advantage of the benefits offered by digital transformation, such as real-time decision-making, increased productivity, flexibility and agility. Always with the aim of making Rieusset a more competitive and efficient company.

Our step towards Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is not only about applying technology in production processes, but also about making operational changes that entail improvements for the company. And for this, in 2019 a consultancy structured in two phases was started – diagnosis and action plan:

– Diagnosis: A detailed diagnosis of the state of the company was carried out through several meetings with the management team and those responsible for the area, and with factory tours. Different aspects were analyzed, such as the condition of the machines, their performance and age, what production management systems are used, what information systems in general are in the company, quality management tools, maintenance, the interconnection between them and the overall level of digitization of the company…

What was the result of the diagnosis? At this point, you might wonder… Was Rieusset a long way from becoming an Industry 4.0? On a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being the highest level of innovation and 5 being the lowest), Rieusset obtained an above-average result.

Different aspects to work on and improve were obtained from the diagnosis; among them is the need to connect different processes and eliminate those that suppose a “waste of time” because of the use of a manual procedure, which can generate human factor errors and poorly organized management.

– Action plan (in 3 years’ time). The action plan, also called a roadmap, serves to define the strategy to be followed over the next few years to address the digitization process of Industry 4.0. This strategy aims to achieve competitive advantages both internally and externally.

The roadmap orders chronologically and by areas of the company the entire range of actions that the consultant recommends implementing. To guarantee a realistic roadmap, it is essential to visualize how the company wants to be seen in a 3-, 5- and 10-year scenario. In this way, a strategy is implemented that coincides with the corporate objectives of the company, not only at the theoretical level, but also in practice.

In our case, the Industry 4.0 action plan focused on the following pillars:

• Productive processes
• Products, services and new business models
• IT infrastructures
• Data and analytics
• Organization, strategy and Human Resources
• Business ecosystem: customers, suppliers and partners

After the hiatus caused by the pandemic, the project has been re-launched vigorously, since Industry 4.0 is one of Rieusset’s priorities and the objective is to complete its implementation in an approximate period of 2 years.

The idea therefore is to incorporate all the improvement proposals of our action plan, in order to be more competitive and efficient. But above all, to be able to offer the best service and the best products to our customers.

Just as innovation is in Rieusset’s DNA, so is transparency. Therefore, we will be sharing updates on the transition to Industry 4.0 in future publications.