Industry 4.0 – Mother nature thanks.

Italian manufacturing intelligence is expressed through sustainable production or green production, the one that adopts practices that comply with sustainability that influence the design of the product, the process and the operating principles. A system comes into action that integrates product and process design with production, planning and control, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact and keeping resource efficiency high.

The mission of the PNRR aims to make, by 2026, the most modern, digital and sustainable infrastructure system, capable of responding to the challenge of decarbonisation indicated by the European Union with the strategies related to the European Green Deal (in particular the “strategy for intelligent and sustainable mobility “, published on 9 December 2020) and to achieve the sustainable development goals identified by the United Nations 2030 agenda

Smart manufacturing has a long-term vision for investing in energy-efficient machinery. While switching to such machinery can be a costly investment to start with, the long-term benefits outweigh the immediate costs for both companies looking to upgrade old systems and those looking to reduce their carbon footprint. Natural lighting also enters the scene, which, increasingly popular in offices, schools and other environments, remains underused in production plants. In companies that have adopted it, natural lighting has made it possible to design more pleasant work environments that have increased employee productivity and decreased employee absenteeism and operating expenses, with a higher overall return on investments. Transition 4.0, for which 18.45 billion euros have been allocated, continues the support policy for Italian companies started with Industry 4.0. The innovations introduced mainly concern incentives for technological innovation, Research and Development, personnel training in 4.0 technologies. Contributions for high-tech investments go in the direction of greater efficiency and competitiveness of companies, but also towards sustainability that embraces environmental and social issues.

The effects on employment caused by the transition from simple production to intelligent and digital production are different and contrasting. Economists Acemoglu, Restrepo and Derek believe that human labor will decline to some extent, while productivity will increase. Adding one robot for every thousand people would reduce the number of employed populations from 0.18% to 0.34%, and per capita wages from 0.25% to 0.5%. On the contrary, the studies of Borland and Coell have questioned the thesis of the effect of destruction of the occupation caused by technological progress. A survey of more than 3,000 Japanese companies shows that employees with higher education tend to expect artificial intelligence and other related technologies to have a positive impact on their employment. With the increase in environmental awareness in society, manufacturing manufacturers are responsible for educating their engineers and technicians in the environmental aspects of production which, moreover, should be incorporated into university engineering courses. New technologies are already offering solutions to help businesses achieve their sustainability goals: artificial intelligence, cloud, IoT and digital twin, to name but a few, have the potential to create greater efficiency, reduce waste and reduce carbon footprint. and, above all, to redesign not only the processes but also the products, guaranteeing sustainability and innovation for the future. Source Accenture

The industrial revolution created jobs. With the knowledge revolution, workers are replaced by the creators who train in the gym of creative thinking. They carry thoughts from one mind to another. Great travelers like the philosopher and scientist Descartes, the creators open the “great book of the world” by conversing with people of different temperaments and from all walks of life. Mutual exchange makes them acquire new knowledge. The more you acquire knowledge, the more you are aware that much remains to be discovered. Progress manifests itself in the occupations of the creators which are no longer the inhuman effort of which Cesare Pavese poetized. Their professions are thought activities carried out in digital and hybrid form, merging the world of bytes and that of atoms. Smart manufacturing is visible in companies that focus on personalized offers. The “making it in time” gives way to “doing just to the case of that particular person”. We do not close up like a hedgehog to face the storm of change but we rely on the ability to overcome a traumatic event by exploiting the opportunities it offers. It is produced in small batches and close to customers. Through the widespread diffusion of 3D machines, the factory is decentralized in many places manned by people who are co-creators and entrepreneurs.