A look at the sentient potential of Industry 4.0.

1. The Sentient Supply Chain
Technology is the mother of invention: taking humans out of the supply chain
Discussing: the technologies, the possibilities, and the impact.

2. Basic Overview
A supply chain is a system of
organizations, people, activities,
information, and resources involved in
moving a product or service from
supplier to customer. Supply chain
activities involve the transformation of
natural resources, raw materials, and
components into a finished product
that is delivered to the end customer.
In the 1980s, the term supply chain
management (SCM) was developed to
express the need to integrate the key
business processes, from end user
through original suppliers.Original
suppliers are those that provide
products, services, and information
that add value for customers and other
stakeholders. The basic idea behind
SCM is that companies and
corporations involve themselves in a
supply chain by exchanging
information about market fluctuations
and production capabilities.
Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain

3. Good Supply Chain Overview
If all relevant information is
accessible to any relevant
company, every company in
the supply chain has the ability
to help optimize the entire
supply chain rather than to
sub-optimize based on a local
interest. This will lead to
better-planned overall
production and distribution,
which can cut costs and give a
more attractive final product,
leading to better sales and
better overall results for the
companies involved. This is one
form of Vertical integration.
The primary objective of SCM is to fulfill customer demands through the most efficient
use of resources, including distribution capacity, inventory, and labor. In theory, a supply
chain seeks to match demand with supply and do so with the minimal inventory.
Broadly, the success of the supply chain depends
on the product design and the capabilities of the
supply chain, but the reverse is also true: the
success of the product depends on the supply chain
that produces it.

4. Enterprise Resource Planning: What supply chain has to do with software
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of core business processes, often in real-time and mediated by
software and technology. These business activities can include:
● product planning, purchase
● production planning
● manufacturing or service delivery
● marketing and sales
● materials management
● inventory management
● shipping and payment
● finance
The fundamental advantage of ERP is that the integration
of myriad business processes saves time and expense.
Management can make decisions faster and with fewer
errors. Data becomes visible across the organization.
ERP is usually referred to as category of
business-management software—typically a suite of
integrated applications—that an organization can use
to collect, store, manage and interpret data from these
many business activities.

5. The birth of “Industrie 4.0”
1. Introduction of mechanical production
systems
2. Work-sharing mass production
3. Automation of production processes.
4. Intelligent, networked systems
Industry 1-4:

6. 1.) IoT - the potential in sensors
A parallel is found in automated
driving:
Sensors from IoT, and computing
power enable human to be
removed from behind the wheel
Similar
disruption?
>>>>
Sensors from IoT, and computing
power enable human to be
removed from behind the supply
chain.

7. 2.) AI - the potential in machine
learning
Unmatched
flexibility and
oversight.=
3.) The Cloud - cheap, ubiquitous platform for computation
Integrated circuits could continue to see costs halve every few years, even
if transistor densities no longer double. This is good enough for progress.
Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles
approximately every two years.
“The cost for the chips also tends to half every two years.”
=

9. High human labour Low human labour

10. Could this be the great industrial disruption?
If all information is connected by the IoT, shared and understood by AI, and all built on a
very large number of computers, then you don’t really need humans to do much of
anything in companies.
You could technically have the personnel-free company.
Besides, if machines are communicating with machines, humans will only get in the way.
What does this mean for the IT industry?
Could you technically have a “bot” company?

11. Could this be the way towards the circular economy?
A circular economy is a regenerative system in which resource input and waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimised by
slowing, closing, and narrowing material and energy loops. This can be achieved through long-lasting design, maintenance, repair,
reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and recycling. This is contrast to a linear economy which is a 'take, make, dispose' model of
production.

12. The End