Some futurist thinkers out there have begun talking about « Digital Manufacturing » or « Industry 4.0, » but what do these things mean, and how will they work?
The development of more advanced AI has been making huge waves lately as the technology becomes integrated into more and more aspects of daily life. That includes personal computing, like with new Apple Intelligence features being utilized by iPhones and MacBooks, as well as in larger industries, such as the rise of AI in healthcare. With so many eyes on AI and machine learning, more and more people are also becoming aware of Industry 4.0 and the rise of digital manufacturing.
Digital manufacturing, according to Dr. Laine Mears, expert engineer and Automotive Manufacturing Chair at Clemson University, « is the use of data and information to make things faster, cheaper, and more consistent (i.e., of better quality). » Just as LLMs like ChatGPT have made it more efficient for you to search for the answers to questions from an unimaginable amount of data, digital manufacturing also uses data and computer systems to improve everything from the machines and processes used in physical manufacturing to the way machines and humans interact with one another.
As Dr. Mears explains, « This data can be, of course, local to the manufacturing operation (one machine can tell the next what to expect from what it observes, (termed per-part intelligence)), but also includes information on the design intent and customer needs so that processes can react to the true requirements, rather than just specification ranges for dimensions or functions (which lose the « why » aspect). » So, not only is digital manufacturing improving how things are made, but it’s doing so broadly across several different stages of production, including how customers interact with them.Digital manufacturing can be used to improve the production of a product from start to finish
Even before a product is built, digital manufacturing can help improve the way it’s made. By using data analytics, digital manufacturing can be used by engineers who are designing a product well before it’s produced and the materials used in its production are even sourced.
