High-tech Production Without People | Industry 4.0.

Production without people is right around the corner. Robots have been replacing people for years in manufacturing and soon no person will be needed on the production floor. Should people be afraid of losing their jobs? What else can we expect from Industry 4.0 in the near future?

Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, refers to the current trend towards the integration of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics, into industrial processes. These technologies are being used to automate and optimize production and supply chain processes, leading to improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and speed.

While Industry 4.0 has the potential to significantly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of production processes, it is unlikely to result in the complete elimination of people from these processes. In many cases, Industry 4.0 technologies are being used to augment rather than replace human labor, allowing employees to focus on higher-value tasks and activities.

That being said, Industry 4.0 will likely result in some changes to the way that people work in manufacturing and other industries. For example, some tasks may be automated, while others may be redesigned to take advantage of new technologies. Some workers may need to acquire new skills or retrain in order to work with these technologies effectively.

Overall, Industry 4.0 is likely to involve a combination of high-tech production processes and human labor, with the goal of improving efficiency and productivity while also creating new opportunities for workers.

Replacing People With Automation

“We are approaching a time when machines will be able to outperform humans at almost any task. I believe that society needs to confront this question before it is upon us: if machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?” ~Moshe Vardi
“Like air and drinking water, being digital will be noticed only by its absence, not its presence.” ~Nicholas Negroponte
“As the Internet of things advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred, sometimes in creative ways.” ~Geoff Mulgan
“Industry 4.0 isn’t going to just change manufacturing it is going to completely disrupt it. In the not so distant future if you aren’t part of Industry 4.0 you won’t be in business.” ~Dave Waters
“In addition to doing our jobs at least as well as we do them, intelligent robots will be cheaper, faster, and far more reliable than humans. And they can work 168 hours a week, not just 40. No capitalist in her right mind would continue to employ humans.” ~Kevin Drum
“It’s not if robots are going to replace humans, it is when are robots going to replace humans?” ~Dave Waters
“Robots can be used either to replace or complement human labor. And in the decades ahead, we will see lots of both happening. In some settings, there may be new kinds of jobs for human beings to tend to our increasingly intelligent machines. Or otherwise keep human decision-making in the loop. But it’s generally agreed that the number of such machine-tending jobs will be much smaller than the number of jobs eliminated.” ~Gregory Clay