Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 (aka, The 4th Industrial Revolution), which some write off as marketing click-bait, has very real implications for our global economy as it begins to take form. The digital world is advancing at an accelerated rate with the development of increasingly complex semiconductor technology (aka digital chips) at the core of the prolific improvements we're seeing in virtually every sector.

The technology sector itself is becoming increasingly difficult to define, with every major enterprise digitally optimizing its product offering in some way. Hyperscale computing (high volume & velocity data centers) have taken over our economy with cloud computing, big data, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence (AI) constituting the defining technologies of this contemporary industrial revolution.

The usefulness of advanced technology was illuminated during the pandemic lockdowns. The ability to work, unwind, socialize, and even order groceries remotely is a result of this advancing technological wave, which the pandemic accelerated by 10 years in a matter of 10 months.

To understand where we are today, we must look back at the road that led us here. To understand the 4th industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), we must examine the prior 3.

The 1st Revolution

The 1st industrial revolution started in the mid to late-1700s with the steam engine, which has been the framework for energy sources since. Mechanization was also an underlying theme, with huge leaps and bounds made in textiles that changed the sale of cloth from small street vendors into a global industry.

This revolution was an enlightenment of innovative thinking that stimulated the next two and a half centuries of prolific advancement in technology.

The 2nd Revolution

The 2nd industrial revolution began in the late 1800s and can be symbolized by modern electricity, the light bulb, and Henry Ford’s assembly line. We all hear about Benjamin Franklin’s discovery of electricity back in 1752, with the kite and key experiment that not only shocked him but the entire world.

Thomas Edison was the first one to be able to harness this power and distribute it with the first coal power station called the Edison Electric Light Station, which opened in 1882 in London. The first power plants were used only to power light bulbs, but as we know, power uses have gone far beyond this.

Nikola Tesla’s invention of alternating currents (AC) in 1888 further revolutionized electricity making it more efficient and allowing it to travel much further distances. AC is the type of electricity that powers almost everything today. Tesla, Inc was named as such to honor Nikola Tesla and his development of the first AC motor, which powers these electric vehicles 130 years later.

The Digital Revolution (The 3rd Revolution)

Electricity was the stepping stone needed for the 3rd industrial revolution, also known as the digital revolution. The shift from analog technology to digital electronics began in the mid-20th century and redefined everything the world thought it knew. This marked the beginning of the information age.

This was the age in which the computer was invented, and the era that the internet was born. We have all been alive through this era and have become accustomed to the rapid evolution of technology, which has only seemed to accelerate with time.

The internet’s ability to obtain, hold and create information has changed the world in which we live. Information is so readily available that whenever a disagreement arises, the phrase “Google it” will generally be mentioned in the first 10 seconds, and the argument can be resolved in the blink of an eye.

The computer and the internet have both laid the groundwork for the next industrial revolution. A revolution that will once again change the world.