We are seeing a great digital transformation in manufacturing and production related industries and value chains therein. In the days that preceded digitisation of all and sundry, we had Semi Automats and Automats that drove the early automated factories. We then saw the advent of the Computer Numerically controlled Machine tools (CNC) and their networking the world over. The CNC’s in a way revolutionised the manufacturing processes, allowing everything under the sun to be manufactured. A concept of humans programming Machines and Machine tools gave way to Machine’s programming Machines. This is industry 4.0, where machines speak to machines and drive the production processes across industries in a massively automated environment. Today, we use Industry 4.0 interchangeably with the fourth industrial revolution representing a new stage in the organization and control of the industrial value chain.
Industry 4.0 has brought about some profound changes in the way we conduct business and our lives. Even the IT sector has been seeing changes that one could not have predicted a few years back. Artificial Intelligence (AI), has seen great strides in the last few years and has seen to it that the entry level jobs dry up. Even professionals with more than five years’ experience are forced to reinvent themselves to stay relevant. Several start-ups have systematically closed shop. Robot process automation (RPA) with intelligent agents and rapid development tools have rendered many jobs redundant. No sector has been spared with the infusion of new technology. Let’s look at some awe-inspiring possibilities of the new technology and automation in our lives. In as much as the technology improves and inspires lives, there is a downside as well. Several jobs have been lost.
The autonomous cars will pick you up and drop you off at your destination. Will the tech companies like Tesla, Apple and Google be the new challengers to the traditional Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen or a Volvo? Automation will render accidents on the roads far less. Would you still own a car? Would you need a driving licence? What would the insurance companies do if the roads are free of accidents? Their Insurance Premiums may crash and some of them may be out of business. Are we following the Moore’s Law?
With AI’s omnipresence in Robotics, Medical Diagnostics, Autonomous Electric Cars, Online education, 3D Printing, Hydroponic Agriculture, the world is changing. It may never be the same again. Apart from the profound changes in technology, even the traditional businesses are closing, what with the new tech kids challenging them every day. Have we ever realised that UBER was just a software company? They never owned any cars but today are the biggest taxi company in the world. Airbnb is today the biggest hotel company in the world but again, they don’t own any hotel properties. Will the real estate business also nose dive because of the WFH concept? People may abandon their plush high rent apartments, to move away to more beautiful and affordable homes in the distant suburbs. Even medical diagnostics will see huge changes. There are already Tech companies which build medical devices that use the Mobile phone, for a retina scan and a blood sample when one breathes into it, after which the parameters are analysed for the Bio-markers to identify nearly any disease.
AI with ever increasing computing power, is the new giant in the pack. IBM’s Watson, gives sound legal advice based on AI interpretations, all on a smartphone. Are the lawyers threatened? Will the Justice system be rendered redundant with Blockchain interventions? Facebook has a pattern recognition software that recognises faces better than humans aiding crime investigation. Would petty criminals vanish?
Kodak had almost 2 million employees worldwide in the 1980’s and sold 85% of all photographic film-rolls across the world. Within just a couple of decades, their business model crashed and Kodak went bankrupt. What happened? It is Digital photography and a smartphone. Today, a smart phone is one’s camera that probably is better than the most conventional cameras with no film rolls as the earlier generations knew. The connoisseurs of photography may disagree, but that is neither here nor there.
A lot has been said about Electric vehicles (EV). One thing they have achieved is market disruptions and change in conventional business models. Unless of course, new skilling, re-skilling and upskilling efforts are made, even more job losses would be seen. For aa start, A Petrol Engine / Diesel Engine-driven Car has almost 20,000 individual components whereas an EV has less than fifty. This will entail a massive reduction in manufacturing effort and a complete closing of conventional car repair workshops, for now the parts will be replaced, rather than cars repaired, which will also be only the authorised outlets with ethe down time reduced to just a few hours. Less parts means less wear and tear, which may allow future cars to come with a life-time warranties. Would we need Petrol Pumps? Probably not, for even that will go with street corners fitted with power meters that will dispense electricity. At the expense of the gasoline companies, the power companies will now install Electrical recharging stations at street corners as is already seen in Sweden, Denmark and Holland.
What will be the effect on the petroleum Industry and the coal mining industry? Probably they too are in trouble though the environment will start breathing fresh air with no pollutants around. With petroleum companies vanishing, the middle east may have to look for alternative sources of revenue.
Solar energy is the next big thing. Several countries have mandated their roof tops to be fit with solar panels lest their permissions would be hard to come by. So, our homes, that we live in, will start producing and storing more electrical energy during the lean times, consuming only a part of it. What happens to the rest? It will be sold to the smart PowerGrid which will start distributing it to those who need it. Is this Tesla on the roof?
Future World is an American direct-to-video science fiction action film released in 2018. At the film’s opening, a voice-over explains that mankind’s technological breakthroughs in the development of artificial intelligence and robotics eventually lead to a global war. Afterward, the remnants of humanity struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland while the surviving machines remain hidden. Though this was just a movie, there are lessons. Can we see the pointers?