Industry 4.0: Building intelligent factories with cloud & AI

Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) have seen high adoption in telecommunications, retail, FMCG, BFSI and healthcare in the last decade. One crucial learning for manufacturers in the Covid-19 era is that cost-effective digital manufacturing solutions can keep factories and supply chains running effectively to cut costs. Industry 4.0 is redefining digital technologies, business strategies and operational execution for businesses.

“Manufacturing companies have realised that optimising costs with digital solutions is necessary to keep production and supply chains operating smoothly while maintaining high-quality products,” says Rohit Pande, AI Applications Sales Leader, IBM India/South Asia. “Today, an average production line can generate around 70 terabytes of big data on a single day; however, most of it is not analysed.” According to him, manufacturers are now beginning to combine AI, hybrid cloud, and automation to draw value from such data and obtain more mission-critical insights like prediction and prevention of equipment failure, improving reliability, reducing downtime, and applying data insights to upgrade product quality and lower manufacturing costs.