Industry 4.0: The New Building Block of Manufacturing

Team o4s on June 9, 2022

After the first industrial revolution which involved the introduction of mechanical production, the second which took place with science and mass production, and the third which focused on digitalization, it is time for the fourth installment of the industrial revolution i.e. Industry 4.0 to make a buzz now.

What is Industry 4.0?

The fourth industrial revolution refers to the digitalization of production and manufacturing procedures. Industry 4.0 uses smart technologies such as artificial intelligence, 3-D printing, miniaturized sensors, etc. along with real-time data to increase productivity and profitability, simultaneously cutting down the costs of manufacturing.

The new concept that is taking the world by awe is a successor to the 3rd industrial revolution that bought computers in the manufacturing industry. However, unlike the 3rd industrial revolution, Industry 4.0 focuses on helping the organization to manage and succeed by ticking off what’s necessary and what’s not on their checklist.

How is Industry 4.0 supporting Organizational Supply Chain?

Industry 4.0 has been launched, keeping in mind the objective of making supply management better, faster, and more reliable. With the introduction of smarter technologies, high-end quality management systems, and real-time tracking, the 4th industry revolution shall bring a positive change to the supply chain. Let’s understand how.

Better Asset Tracking

Asset tracking has always been a primary concern across various industries, including businesses of all scales. With the technological advancements, deploying labor for asset tracking shall be reduced, facilitating transparency and elimination of manual human errors in the system. Hence, offering an improvised and on-time service delivery to the customers.

Time Efficient Deliveries

A highly managed data and supply chain network will provide a boost to organizational deliveries. The companies will be able to respond to consumers’ demands and need efficiently and easily. Reduced downtime of machines and lower losses lead to time-efficient deliveries, roping in higher profitability for the company.

Better Control & Management

Industry 4.0 brings in better transparency with its real-time data management systems. Accumulating the entire data in a single place not just reduces time investment, but also, space and other operational expenses.

Cons of Industry 4.0

Besides benefitting the supply chains of organizations, just like the flip side of a coin, there are a few possible repercussions too:

Internet of Things (IoT) stands as a major security concern. Until packed with high-end security processes, online data management seems to be under a major data security threat.

Workers and labors involved in IT industries adapting manufacturing 4.0 will be required to undergo specialized training to match the required skillset

Customizable and complex production requiring non-repetitive tasks shall be a major concern as machines are not believed competent enough for customizable tasks

What does the future hold?

By far, except for a few cons, the introduction of Industry 4.0 seems to be a profitable and efficient change in the manufacturing world. As per experts, the change is expected to bring high monetary benefits for industrialists. Specialists suggest that the industry will be investing approximately USD 500 billion by 2020, and with this technology, they shall earn a value up to USD 1.28 trillion.

How Industry 4.0 correlates with product serialization?

Enforcing greater product visibility through a tech-enabled supply chain provides great support to Industry 4.0. Together, they facilitate absolute visibility not only across the entire supply chain but throughout the product lifecycle. Product serialization helps companies build an ecosystem where there is higher product traceability.

Companies can easily and conveniently track their product’s movement across the supply chain via primary and secondary linking of packages. This makes it way easier to detect territorial product diversions, and faulty returns while providing a leeway to optimize inventories. Furthermore, they help optimize process quality, and inventory planning, boost productivity and lower costs as well as reduce waste incurred due to lower awareness levels. The collection of real-time updates on activities, along with the continuous processing of aggregated data allows manufacturers to run advanced analytics and predict future trends based on historic demand-supply patterns. Thus, facilitating efficient strategic decision making.

Product Digitization with O4S

O4S on December 23, 2019

The average consumer is more informed now than ever in the past and with increasing technological advancement, things are about to change further. It would be redundant to say that digitization is here or your organization should focus on digital to remain competitive in the market. We are past that! Today, the focus has shifted towards taking digitalization to products or services which were once considered outside the digital purview. Irrespective of whether a company sells physical or digital products, it requires to make a digital connection with the consumers.

With multiple options available to customers, creating an experience will be the key to ensuring brand loyalty. As per a Salesforce report, 95 percent of customers said that they were more likely to be loyal to a company they trust, and 80 percent mentioned that experience provided by the company was as important as the product or the service. So, what can companies do to create a unique digital experience and increase the trust-factor?

Product Digitization

For companies producing physical products, digital has at best been used for marketing activities. However, with the arrival of Next-Gen technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Robotics, etc. the usage of the digital platform can go far beyond. When thinking about the application of these technologies, both companies and consumers imagine smart devices, driverless cars, and perhaps, even a flying jet pack. What if these technologies could be applied to the most basic products? A bottle of cold drink or a packet of biscuits?

Product digitization is a process of adding smart tags to the products which will enable the end-users to interact digitally with the products. It can open new avenues to increase customer loyalty and create personalized communication with the consumer at the point of sale. Product digitization can be achieved by adding scannable QR codes on the products. The end-user has to simply point their camera, and get all the product details right on their mobile phones.

Brands have absolute control over what information is displayed to the customer once they scan the code with their phones. Besides ensuring the fact that the product is original, customers can get a wide range of information about the product life-cycle. You can share product development videos, pictures of the manufacturing plant, or details of the upcoming products. Product digitization with O4S is easy to implement without making any significant changes to the existing technology.

Product digitization will have a positive impact across departments from supply chain to marketing. For organizations dealing in physical goods, a supply chain is the core of the business. The transparency obtained due to product digitization can help organizations create a robust supply chain. Besides, as per a study conducted by PwC, 33 percent of respondents said their companies have already digitized the supply chain while another 72% added that their companies would do it within the next five years.

Advantages of Product Digitization

Product digitization will have both immediate and long-term benefits for an organization. From impacting customer loyalty to optimizing the supply chain, it has immense benefits. Let us look at some of the top benefits offered by product digitization.

1. Enhanced Security

Product digitization helps the brand in ensuring better security of their products. The products are protected against counterfeiting as every stakeholder will have the option to scan the product and ascertain its authenticity. It also allows you to improve the supply chain visibility of products. An organization will be able to track the product during its entire supply chain. The increased visibility will help in improving the efficiency of the supply chain. Cumulatively, this will help in optimizing the supply chain.

2. Build Customer Trust

With product digitization features offered by O4S, customers will have more reasons to trust the brand. With the point and scan feature, customers can determine the authenticity of the product with their mobile phones. The customer can get all the information about the product from manufacturing all the way to the delivery. Product digitization adds an extra layer of trust so that customers can purchase products without any doubt in their minds.

3. Increased Engagement

Product digitization can be used to interact with customers in real-time. This information can be used by brands to arrive at crucial business decisions for improving engagement as well as sales. Dynamic content can be shared with the end-users to increase brand loyalty and introduce new products. With product digitization, brands can effectively use data to implement marketing automation. Based on real-time locations, content in regional languages can also be shared with the users.

4. End-to-End Customer Experience

Customer experience is a major factor that impacts loyalty and repeat purchases. Today, customers want a seamless and integrated digital experience. Product digitization creates an opportunity for the brand to not only offer a comprehensive customer experience but also pave the way for future innovations. A brand can keep the customers both intrigued and satisfied by delivering engaging digital content.

5. Process Optimization

While product digitization will have a wide range of benefits pertaining to customers, it will also have positive effects on the end-to-end process. Based on the abundant data that will be generated at each stakeholder, every team from procurement to marketing will be in a better position to make informed decisions. As a result, the demand and supply gap at every stage will be as less as possible.

Product digitization gives a digital identity to your physical products. Your organization can get better control over the products, ensure increased connectivity, and offer a better context to your customers. O4S product digitization technology enables you to digitize your existing products without the need to reinvent or substantially alter them. If done correctly, product digitization can offer immense competitor advantages. Get in touch with us to know how product digitization can help your organization. Feel free to reach out to us, we are just an email/ call away.

Indian Economy Towards Digitalization and Its Impact on Retail

O4S on July 5, 2019

Ever since the evening of November 8, when PM Narendra Modi announced demonetization to curb black money, digitalization has become a talking point. However, it is essential to understand that digitalization has been around for over a decade, and it does not only mean financial digitalization. From ordering food to shopping for your kid’s next birthday gift, everything can now be done digitally. India is rapidly moving into digital space with 460 million people connected online which is second only to China. In Q1 2018, 30 million units of smartphones were sold in India, resulting in an approximate addition of 20.5 new mobile users every second. Indian users consume 76 PB of data a year which is 1.1x that of China and 1.7x of the USA. With 12 billion mobile app downloads a year, India is only a step behind China in terms of app downloads.

The digital revolution is expected to create over USD 1 trillion digital economies by 2025 as per an IT Ministry report. In the fiscal year 2017–18, the digital economy generated about USD 200 billion of economic value which was about 8 percent of India’s GVA. Digitalization is prevalent in every sector in India, from agriculture to banking. According to a study conducted by Assocham & EY, 16.9 million tons of farm produce worth USD 6 billion was sold via e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) platforms in 2017–18, while railways have installed Wi-Fi in over 675 stations. Moreover, e-commerce is expected to grow at a CAGR of 23% by 2021, and the mobile wallet transactions have reportedly increased 40 times in comparison to 2013.

The Indian economy is fast pacing towards digitalization and bringing huge opportunities for several stakeholders. However, digitalization is a cross-industry and cross-company process that requires changes on a broader scale. The government of India over the last couple of years has pushed schemes such as “Digital India”, Aadhaar, Jan-Dhan Yojana, DigiLocker, and PAHAL, all of which focus on promoting a digital economy. While these schemes may have been created to ensure benefits reach poorest of the poor, it has transformed rural and semi-urban citizens’ approach towards technology. These new users equipped with a smartphone are changing the trends of several industries including that of retail.

Major Changes in Retail

Digitalization has not only changed the customers, but it has also impacted the operating standards of retail companies. Retail companies have been rapidly adopting digital ways to keep pace with the fast-changing retail space in India. Some of the top changes that digitization has brought are as following:

Price Sensitivity

The digital transformation has ensured the customers can compare the products with a single click and see through any price discrepancy. Top retailers have been historically charging higher due to the convenience and customer service offered in the store. The advent of digital e-commerce has made these traits obsolete, at least in the minds of the customer. Today, the customer thinks if they can get the same product for a lesser price by ordering it from the comfort of their home, then why should they go to a physical brick and mortar store.

Data

Since everything is now digital from customer information to logistics, a large quantity of data is generated daily. E-commerce companies can know exactly what the customer browsed, which product they added to cart and deleted later, which other product a customer searched, and what they purchased, and time spent on the site. These huge chunks of data need to be analyzed and turned into actionable insights. These insights will then help the retailers in modifying their actions to customize their offering to improve sales. Digitalization has ensured that data has become an extremely vital parameter for retail companies.

Logistics Optimization

With everything else from product pricing to website layout open to being copied by your competition, logistics can set you apart from the rest. Digitalization has had a huge impact on the logistics industry which was earlier at the mercy of transporters. Today, retailers can track every movement from the time a product leaves the factory to it reaches the customers. This ability to track the product empowers retailers to optimize the logistics to improve delivery time and delight their customers. The optimized supply chain also results in monetary savings.

Product Authenticity

While digitalization has introduced several benefits in the retails industry, there have been a few downsides. The most concerning part has been the introduction of fake products in the supply chain. Several instances have surfaced wherein customers received a fake product or did not receive any product at all. Fake products could enter your supply chain due to prevailing untraceable return management systems. There is always a possibility that some bad actors in the supply chain such as super-stockist, distributor, or any other stakeholder will replace the original product with a counterfeit product.

Even though not all companies have employed an easily available solution, some of the early adopters have introduced product verification features. The supply chain tracking applications are equipped with features such as product serialization, control procedures, return restriction, etc. which enable you to prevent counterfeit products from entering the supply chain. It also allows the customer to scan the products and verify whether the product is original or counterfeit. This gives ‘peace of mind’ to your customers and turns them into your brand ambassadors.

What Next for Retail?

The changes that digitalization will bring in retail are inevitable, and it will change the game for brick & mortar retailers too. The concept of a convenience store that offered products at slightly better rates is in need of a serious overhaul. Retailers need to shift the focus on their strengths and provide an unbeatable in-store experience to the customers. This could be in the form of interactive screens, providing theme-based shopping experience, and using technology to improve the shopping experience further. Retailers can also embrace digitalization and become part of promotions, research projects, and trading expos held by several brands. This would allow you to compete with digital platforms while still retaining your USPs and playing on your strengths.

Digital transformation is disrupting industries and forcing companies to innovate business models. Depending on the present stage of the company, some of the newer business model that can be followed include subscription model, hypermarket model, experience model, on-demand model, freemium model, and the pyramid model, among others. It is essential to understand that digitalization will change all aspects of retail, be it strategy, front-end, or back-end. It falls on the modern retailers to be agile in responding to changing retail space, and lead rather than play catch-up.

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