What are the potential risks of relying on Industry 4.0 technologies?

Industry 4.0, also known as the fourth industrial revolution, is dramatically transforming how companies produce and deliver their products. Integrating advanced Industry 4.0 technologies like analytics, AI, and machine learning into production facilities enhances accuracy and productivity, paving the way for the transformation into a fully integrated Smart Factory.

Transitioning to smarter manufacturing processes can increase uptime, reduce defects, lower introduction costs, improve productivity, reduce training times, and even improve energy use. However, as with any major technological shift, these digital transformation advancements come with their own set of challenges, particularly around data security, operational reliability, and workforce adaptability. To navigate Industry 4.0 risks, manufacturers embracing these emerging technologies must be aware of them. Atlas Copco would like to raise awareness of these challenges and offer our assistance.

Industry 4.0 technology forms the foundation for Smart Integrated Assembly, Atlas Copco's five-stage concept for industrial manufacturers looking to evolve and implement smarter, safer, more productive, and more sustainable assembly processes. It is comprised of the rapidly evolving technology that followed the third industrial revolution. What sets the fourth industrial revolution apart is interconnectivity and the use of data, which enable real-time data collection, analysis, and automated decision-making.

Industry 4.0 is the answer to solving some of the manufacturing constraints commonly seen today: lack of traceability, downtime, inconsistent quality of your production, and so much more. However, Industry 4.0 also poses some potential risks and challenges not yet faced by many manufacturers. Read on to uncover some potential Industry 4.0 risks and tips on navigating the rapidly evolving industrial world.

Interconnectivity among our industrial tools and solutions allows complete traceability during assembly. This enables you and your operators to catch errors in real-time and identify areas of concern. This data helps optimize your facility, keeping you ahead of major quality issues.

However, a new challenge emerges in today’s manufacturing era: cyberattacks. Safeguarding your essential data is key to ensuring your facility remains unaffected. Traditionally, manufacturers have kept most or all of their solutions offline, protecting themselves from both major and minor cyber threats.

As more and more manufacturing facilities adopt Industry 4.0 solutions and practices into their assembly, it is essential to remain vigilant to the Industry 4.0 risks that could harm their production. Furthermore, to reduce the risk of such threats, manufacturers must implement cybersecurity standards and ensure that their tools and solutions are always running on the most up-to-date software available.

Related: Tune in to our on-demand cybersecurity webinar, where our experts delve into the rise of cybercrimes and why safeguarding your facility and its assets is critical.

Enter Atlas Copco’s TechCover service level agreements for all your software needs. With this service, you will receive the proper support and efficient solutions to keep your software up and running, improving quality, productivity, and system uptime.

TechCover is split into two packages, ranging from basic to advanced:

• TechCover Quality Critical: This is the basic package, which provides remote support during working hours, effective and transparent solutions, access to critical upgrades and updates, and up-to-date security features. You will have remote support Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.
• TechCover Production Critical is the advanced package. It offers all the benefits of TechCover Quality Critical, plus around-the-clock professional assistance worldwide, proactive software monitoring, and automatic problem detection and resolution. With this package, you will have around-the-clock support Monday through Friday.

As part of the TechCover Production Critical package, you will have Health Check software, which runs next to your software product, monitoring in real-time the health of the entire system (application, database, host, and network). Thanks to Health Check, we can deliver proactive services and automatically fix minor issues directly. You will receive instant notifications for critical events, potential vulnerabilities, or performance irregularities, ensuring timely response actions. Plus, much more! Discover the features and benefits to help maximize the potential of these solutions and mitigate cyber threats or other potential Industry 4.0 risks before they happen.

Collecting and analyzing data is critical to the vision of Industry 4.0. Data collection software works alongside your operators, collecting and analyzing their tightening data. Turning raw data into clear and actionable information unlocks the best paths to achieve your goals and make confident data-driven decisions.

Today, 98% of data is not utilized due to a lack of analytics capabilities. Being that data can be one of your most valuable resources, it goes without saying that your assembly processes could be suffering as a result. Manufacturers need to collect information about their production and harness it by understanding what it all means. You can make confident, data-driven decisions once you can filter and understand the information. Facilities that embrace data collection and analysis can see up to an 8% increase in daily production due to utilizing data​.

Supporting the vision of Industry 4.0, we have developed ALTURE–an advanced data-driven service solution for optimizing maintenance and improving quality and production processes. This solution comes in two forms: ALTURE: Optimize and ALTURE: Maintain, each developed to support your unique needs.

These solutions help manage your data, providing you with the data you need to run your facility right in the palm of your hand on an easy-to-use interface. The best part? With ALTURE, Atlas Copco has incorporated industry-leading best practices to reduce or eliminate cybersecurity risks when using our data-driven services. All you need to do is meet your IT requirements. We strive for security and strictly follow industry information and cyber security standards, such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001, protecting your most valuable information from Industry 4.0 risks.

As manufacturers adopt more Industry 4.0 technology, several challenges must be considered. In addition to considering Industry 4.0 risks associated with adopting this innovative technology, manufacturers also need to address the rapidly changing job market. As with all leaps in technology, many job roles must be redefined, either by retaining current staff or by hiring workers with different skills than previously needed. To simplify this transition, it is more important than ever that companies produce simple solutions and improve operator training time.

To truly gain value from the fourth industrial revolution, manufacturers must avoid potential Industry 4.0 risks while ensuring that their tools work in the right place at the right time and with the right parameters. Industrial Location minimizes the chance of operator error or oversite on the line, improving production and reducing operator training time.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing about advanced assembly tools and solutions that will improve assembly; however, it is also identifying its own set of challenges. Luckily, you don’t have to navigate Industry 4.0 risks on your own. The experts at Atlas Copco are here to help you on your journey.

Are you interested in adopting smarter, safer, more productive, and more sustainable assembly processes into your assembly? Contact our experts to start optimizing your assembly and safeguarding your assets.