The terminology of the future manufacturing state – Industry 4.0, 4IR, Fourth industrial revolution, Industrial Internet of Things, cyber physical systems, machine learning – has become a new industrial language which has lost many of its target audience. While most engineers and manufacturing executives know of these terms, the jargon can be confusing and off-putting to many companies, especially SMEs, who simply want to know: what does it do and what is the value proposition?
Autodesk and KUKA Robotics UK have combined to explain how some of the new digital technologies that will transform manufacturing – including cloud computing, digital twins, generative CAD design and collaborative robots – really work and what they can do for smaller companies. Our chosen approach is not to baffle the end-user with buzzwords but explain the technology and the opportunities and how companies are using it.
