During my interactions with manufacturing leaders regarding the adoption of #Industry40, I come across some questions quite often. Over a series of next few posts, I plan to answer some of those.
Q: My Head Office has asked me to implement Industry 4.0 in my factory. Where should I start?

• Create a cross functional group to lead the initiative – this group should be responsible for ensuring the successful planning and implementation of the project. It will typically include people from manufacturing excellence, production, maintenance, automation, IT
• Arrange for training from an expert to know about what, why and how of Industry 4.0.
• Identify the business goals that you want to achieve through Industry 4.0
• Identify the top 3 use cases where you would like to start the implementation – my suggestion would be to start small, see the success, and then expand the scope
• If required, hire a consultant who can guide you through the process – the consultant should know your industry, understand of the manufacturing processes, and have in-depth knowledge of the latest smart manufacturing technologies
• Once you are ready with the basic preparation, evaluate solutions. Keep in mind, you need a partner as Industry 4.0 implementation is a journey. Last month I wrote a blog on this Evaluating-Industrial-IoT-Solutions
• Prepare the implementation plan – of course, this needs to be a detailed plan which considers design, budgets, technology, training, etc. and all such aspects. I will write about this separately.