Automation often replaces human labor, but very rarely in the last sixty years has it eliminated an entire occupation. Only one of the 270 detailed occupations listed in the 1950 US Census has since been eliminated by automation, according to a working paper by Harvard economist James Bessen. The one exception: elevator operator. While the government has removed other occupations from the Census due to factors like lack of demand (boardinghouse keepers) and technological obsolescence (telegraph operators), only elevator operators owe their occupation’s demise mostly to automation, Bessen found. The pattern of the last 60 years is likely to continue. […]

The continuous intelligence that can be delivered to manufacturers about their products via the Internet of Things has put OEMs in a position to take advantage of new market opportunities. Until recently, manufacturers only had to worry about designing, manufacturing, selling and servicing their products. But we are living in a different time now, and wise manufacturers know they need to change to keep up. It is not enough to only be a manufacturer—customers want more out of their key relationships, and they want the ability to optimize and maximize the performance of whatever product they purchase. These customers are […]

The secret to big data is using it right: You only benefit from this technology if you can derive useful conclusions from the stored information, and connect it in the right ways. But many companies seem unaware of this. In a general approach of “let’s just collect everything and then see what happens,” they pile up data from all possible sources – and lose any overview or control. Often this is because the content is stored following strict hierarchical data warehouse rules. However, what made good sense for corporate data until now is not necessarily the best solution for big […]

Register here to attend the webinar: “How to apply IoT, Industry 4.0, & Predictive Analytics in Manufacturing Domain” taking place on April 13th at 11:00am (EDT) / 5:00pm (CEST)  

The value created by Industry 4.0 vastly exceeds the low-single-digit cost savings that many manufacturers pursue today (Boston Consulting Group) When Germany launched a project under the name ‘Industrie 4.0’ to digitalize manufacturing at the Hannover Messe in 2011, the government officials, industry leaders and academics who were working on the project probably had no idea that Industry 4.0  would become such a widely used term and concept. Despite the buzzword aspect, ‘Industrie 4.0’ or ‘Industry 4.0’, however, is a very real phenomenon, transforming manufacturing into digital manufacturing with additional benefits and a range of technological evolutions and possibilities to […]

The event opened with a video message from Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. High-level policy makers, including Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, and Commissioners Elżbieta Bieńkowska (Internal Market, Industry, SMEs and Entrepreneurship) and Carlos Moedas (Research and Innovation) participated in the event. Representatives of traditional and new, disruptive sectors presented their views on the future of their business. Entrepreneurs, innovators, start-ups and the tech community shared the stage with key EU political leaders. Speakers from the Committee of Regions, the European Investment Bank, the European Parliament, Business Europe and the European Trade Union Confederation were also present. The nature of industry is […]