Over the years, many companies have been pursuing the principle of lean production, and on this basis, strive to increase productivity. Today, however, when the principle of lean production is rooted in the spirit of many enterprises, some classical lean tools are beginning to lose some advantages. Because of the great success of these methods, it means that they have less and less room for progress and are becoming more and more difficult to achieve. At the same time, to maintain profitability and competitiveness in today's global business environment, increasing productivity, quality, agility, and service levels are essential, and the pressure will never disappear.
 
 
Companies in this predicament may find some consolation in this ubiquitous commitment that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (industry 4.0) will soon bring about a full-scale change in industries around the world, but what they hear more is to wait and see. However, we believe that Industrial 4.0 will not be a mammoth revolution, but rather a valuable (and warmly welcomed) evolutionary process that makes it possible for the next generation to improve productivity and will reflect on what we have achieved in the manufacturing environment over the past century or so. Development.
 
 
Lean principles that have undergone validation, such as reducing waste in the form of machine failures or non-value-added activities, will remain crucial. At the same time, advances in data acquisition, sensors, robotization and automation, new technologies (including 3D printing), and increased computational power will make advanced analysis possible and will provide some new advantages to established methods.
 
 
Organizations will use these rejuvenated lean approaches to implement three-dimensional new approaches that have long been considered critical: technology systems (processes and tools), management systems (organizations and performance management) and personnel systems (capabilities, thinking patterns and behavior). In addition, new dimensions related to data, IT, and its connectivity will be another driver of core values.
 
 
In other words, industry 4 can be understood as digitalized lean. For example, by improving the process steering process, the company can optimize energy and output for a long time. Now, new sensors, more data, and advanced analysis can improve problem solving and identify complex improvements that lead to smarter solutions and higher productivity. These advances can be improved by digital transparency.
 
 
Take performance management in the workshop as an example. In today's typical factories, performance management occurs mostly after work, and most data acquisitions occur at the end of the day. In this new digital world, performance deviations can be monitored and processed immediately. However, the implementation of new measures requires large-scale organizational transformation, and even the introduction of new working methods, new performance management methods and new capabilities. All these changes will accelerate the real industrial revolution: creating a self-optimizing asset that does not require human intervention.
 
 
More valuable than industry 4.0 itself: Five core principles for creating value at the next level of lean production, based on our experience working with customers in the digital and industrial 4.0 transformation, define five principles that can help companies successfully translate industry 4.0 solutions into real value and bottom line impact.
 
 
Industry 4.0 is the next source of productivity growth. With the increasing cost pressures in various industries, enterprises are faced with the need to increase productivity by two to four percentage points a year. Based on numerous studies, our estimates suggest that advances in digitalization unleash the potential to create efficiency gains of 15 to 20 percent. This leap in productivity will not come from the application of a single solution. In order to have a far-reaching impact, companies must analyze and address all the factors that affect profits and losses, while creating a wide range of solutions.
 
 
For example, by predictive maintenance or remote monitoring, a 30% to 50% reduction in switchboard downtime would greatly increase asset utilization. Labor efficiency is another potential area. Digital performance management, combined with advanced robots and automated steering vehicles, enables further automation of manual operations (such as picking and in-car transportation) and potentially increases labor productivity by 40 to 50 per cent. Advanced analysis of the fine data generated in real-time processing will be crucial for more accurate and effective identification and resolution of the root causes of inefficiency and quality problems in the process. In addition, the large demand for data in the forecasting process has greatly reduced the backlog of data and improved the level of service.
 
 
Industry 4.0 is an evolution for the organization as a whole, not just IT for IT departments to enable industry 4.0 to drive implementation. So companies often first consider how to apply new solutions to their IT departments. But they should also focus on how to do business in the future, considering the change from a value chain and business perspective. For example, a global sportswear company is working to bring its shoemaking business closer to its customers. The move changed the traditional long-term production cycle in low-cost labor countries and then transported it to stores.
 
 
As cheaper, faster, and more flexible robots become more common, products such as shoes and clothing can be built around customers, even in high-cost occasions like Germany.