Nowadays, people discuss Industry 4.0 at every step. If you have a lot of questions on this problematics, feel uncertain or even worried about taking the right steps towards your successful digital transformation, you’re not alone. 75 % of respondents of annual industry monitoring report state that they lack information and understanding of Industry 4.0 implication. This uncertainty is the most common reason for slow and reluctant implementation of Industry 4.0’s technologies and processes.

Let’s take a look at 6 steps we should keep in mind if we are going to go on the digital transformation path leading to a successful entry to Industry 4.0.

1. Create a Digital Twin

A digital twin is a copy of your equipment or processes. Thanks to real understanding of your current state, you will be in a much better starting position for asking the right questions for development of your business, as well as finding answers to them.

2. Make Use of a Digital Twin and Escalate Your Management to a Much Higher Level

100 % transformation which is behind Industry 4.0 requires 100 % managerial commitment. Key players should be involved in the process even before the digital twin is created. The visual nature of the digital twin is a powerful tool which will help to understand the complex dynamics of all processes that are originating in the enterprise. Early involvement of participants in the whole process helps to dampen emotions that significant principle changes inevitably evokes.

3. Use a Digital Twin for Asking the Right Questions and Determining the Right Goals

As a general rule, management tends to search for the problem in sources during a crisis, without any knowledge of complexity or true problem content. A digital twin enables a really deep understanding of how the processes react within different development scenarios. This basis for virtual testing enables setting realistic goals from the very beginning.

4. Test and Set Priorities

Now you’re in a situation when you’re focused on individual stages and technologies where you expect the maximum impact on performance. Maybe you’re thinking about creating a more detailed digital twin so you can test and experiment with various technologies that come into consideration. Thanks to that, you can implement technologies of Industry 4.0 with maximum awareness and knowledge of the thing.

5. Develop Skills, Get and Implement Suitable Technologies

If you have already set your priorities in terms of investments to technologies, you have to make sure you have the needed skills and options. This can be achieved through education and development of employees or by hiring them. As you’re moving through the process of implementation, you can use the digital twin for recording the real achieved value compared to the set goals. Thanks to that, you will keep your implementation running and maximize continuous turnover.

6. Move from Permanent Improvement to Permanent Innovation

The journey towards Industry 4.0 doesn’t have a fixed end. The purpose is permanent process adaptability and a certain degree of flexibility. Traditional techniques for improvement are based on historical data and traditional process analyses. However, instead of that, enterprises need to be able to competently predict future development and act earlier than somebody else. Welcome to the era of permanent innovation!