It must always have been true that the more technology that’s available the more complicated things can become. The advancements made are supposed to make life easier and more leisurely but we all seem to have less time as life becomes busier.

The phenomenon of the fourth industrial revolution, termed as Industry 4.0, might actually be the collective influence that does transform our “busyness”. A recent vote in Switzerland for a base income for everyone foresees that man will become a lesser part of the industrial process, as data is prevalent with the machine.

At the heart of Industry 4.0 is the desire to create higher quality, niche product manufacturing with reduced costs and more productivity. Efficiency of power use and resource use combines to make the Smart Factory with further influence from theorized ‘Internet of Things’ and the ‘Cloud of Services’.

However, the collective result, which equals Industry 4.0, is achieved through a whole maze of elements that combine to create a route to success; from the initial idea and desire of outcome. Trust in each other, by all stakeholders in the project, is paramount. It is here where the added value of wisdom, in utilizing skills, influences the whole outcome.

An exponential growth in the rate of innovation is exciting,  all parties involved in a project can eagerly await the expectations. Encompassing advice at all levels in the strategy maze of direction that the project takes is key to the project not failing to get off of the drawing board. Being smart in managing change is a constant necessity.

I believe that all businesses are required to achieve something that impacts society and culture in a positive manner and advances the world we live in. Importantly, the knowledge of knowing where we are going has to also take account of the wisdom gained from where we have come from. It is then that a smarter future is gained

The discussion on Industry 4.0 at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year highlighted that views are divided on whether the exponential rate of transformation as to how we live, work and play will be as profound as the previous three industrial revolutions.

The contemporary enthusiasm for the use of globalization, as a term for the phenomenon we experience of increased borderless activity and unbounded integration of structures from local to global, can be disputed. Hasn’t this always been the case?

I was reminded of this when I had the pleasure to meet the current 25^th generation owner of a five hundred-plus year old family business. This company has had to change and diversify as its perceived world expanded. Whatever the business structure at any time of trade and investment, it continues to have to consider and then adopt the latest technology and innovation.

Genau 4.0 understands and embraces that:

• The governance of scale, transparency and needs of our partners requires smart vision management in orientating pressure to the good of the progression.
• Moving away from a model of price sensitive reduced quality and limited service to a structure of enhanced corporate governance.

This enables all agents to adopt an attitude of long term ownership to solve weak spots, understand stress points and invest time and resources in the right areas.

By maintaining quality in product-centric procurement for business, the main emphasis then shifts initiative and autonomy to a client-centric organisation of decisions, processes and results.

A holistic view of what Industry 4.0 brings in innovation includes that 70% comes from technological advances. What it realises in vision is that ‘smart’ factory management secures a future. By focusing on both of these attributes creates a trusted spectrum with which to progress change, enable an additive attitude, as well as taking ownership of the governance need in management.

On reflecting on how exciting technology is that drives everyday common practises, that are otherwise mundane, it’s apparent that for ideas to turn into reality, a clear vision must exist to determine what innovation can deliver.

In order to combine boundless creativity, vision, experience and knowledge to produce innovative ideas requires a communicative platform for change to happen. The possibilities of this imagined outcome, bound by an open-ended business plan, allows for real-time results. When working with our clients there is a clear trend towards bringing together the additive value that a device brings and the smart nature in which it operates, which in turn leads to a rise in the achieved value of the project. The dependability of the result is also reproducible; to such an extent that common project pain points of planning, strategy and change to a business requirement are removed to enable a clear expectation of the result.

Recent experience of this can be found in Life Sciences, Medical and Pharmaceutical industries and Analytical Diagnostics where Microfluidics can exponentially aid nanotechnology. Microfluidics is the Industry 4.0 solution for repeatable results.

For example the requirement for more precise automation within a project to ensure fast response times and precise standards is aided by the integrity of an Industry 4.0 approach. Beginning any project with a smart factory assessment is based on delivering quality. Creating a modular construct of the design in Microfluidics encourages a seamless integration into existing standards, preserving the use of valuable resources by minimizing volumes and maximizing the use of precious resources and fluids. This approach reduces excessive energy loss and enables the additive advantage of excellent cleanability and less servicing. The reduction in energy consumption and high dependability leads to an exciting, and hopefully, continued profitable future it also brings effective and achievable timescales and maintains precise standards.

Industry 4.0 is no longer an inspirational buzzword or a motto for a vision that never becomes reality: it is here and now, as it’s effectiveness is delivering successful growth and enhanced ways of working.

When working in the USA alongside a leading manufacturer I was often asked, ‘what is the good, better or best item you have’? From a selling point of view tagging the items in such a way clearly helps the quality of the offering and pricing. However the sales and purchase decision of both the vendor or the client can miss the unique selling, or purchase point, of each product and the advantage it brings.

The important part of entering any transaction is to be comfortable in the trust placed in the vendor, client and the product alike. Having a simple three horse race of good, better, or best is not enough.

Any project undertaken has to be planned from the standpoint of ‘what needs to be achieved as the end goal?’ A recent study (by The Collective Bainpport Industries of Holland) has shown that 62% of projects fail due to lack of planning, 29% by lack of soft skills within the workforce and 8% due to an over aggressive sales pitch.

To enable a satisfactory result analysis is needed, to find the Smart solution for sourcing the materials that correctly suit your customer’s needs.

The vendor needs to:

• Step back and listen.
• Fully understand their customer’s goal.
• Create a clear vision of the project.
• Precisely match the correct product to the exact requirement.
• Ensure a careful delivery of the end product to complete the project

Trusting your analysis extends beyond simply looking at the products on a desk in front of you.  The smart choice is being able to look beyond, and identify, how those products affect the future of a project. This is the way to gain trust and ensure that you are offering a safe pair of hands to carry that project forward.

By adopting this imaginative approach and carefully understanding a clients business, enables a greater trust between stakeholders. Ultimately this relationship creates an environment where a clients business pain points can be dissipated and smart long-term business relationships can be formed.

A past business acquaintance of mine always stated that ‘if you constantly learn then you will always improve’. It is an old adage; if you learn something everyday this becomes a driver for change, which is after all the only constant thing.

My friend was from a past generation where, just as today, the integration of new technology into everyday life was as fast but in a different way. Previously those factors were tangible in that you could “see” and bring together the new raw materials and the end product. The skill of the workforce, in a more labour intensive way, achieved the goal.

An increased importance on the contemporary development of smaller, more receptive and stronger raw materials has now become more important than the physical product itself. An exponential growth in data and digital techniques has produced a smarter environment in industry, commerce and society.

The 4.0 industrial revolution brings an additive motor to drive business forward with a cocktail of energy, raw materials and digitalization. Managing this new environment includes utilizing the skill of the workforce; encouraging an attitude to smarter practice and openness to networking with others.

Wisdom is as equally an important a factor as the knowledge that new technology breeds and one that past industrial revolutions recognized and encompassed. Embracing and exploiting past experiences needs to be nurtured in order that future openness in business continues. This is especially true in projects of any scale undertaken with an initial, exaggerated expectation.

Emphasis on the inflated end result, before the sum of all the parts involved are added up, is one of the reasons projects stall or whimper off on to the scrap heap. This will then impact on and amplify any lack of strategy. Encouraging the softer skill of acknowledging the basis from where you start and how that impacts on timescales will reduce problems in future planning.

All businesses are required to achieve something greater. Exaggerating the result before the project is functional is apparent in many aspects of modern life but not smart business practice. To achieve a result a business needs to embrace the wisdom of knowing that requirements change constantly to enable a system to drive smarter production, boundless creativity and actually allow it to happen.