Before the coronavirus pandemic, manufacturers were just beginning to adopt tactics put forth by Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The foundational technologies that makeup Industry 4.0 include human-machine interaction; advanced engineering, analytics intelligence; and connectivity, data, and computational power are extremely impressive. In fact, for manufacturers using digital solutions based on Industry 4.0 principles, the disruptions caused by COVID were lessened and they did better than their peers throughout the crisis. Importantly, some of these strategies can be advanced without major investments in technology as in the case of digital work instructions and performance management, allowing manufacturers to see big benefits with modest outlays of capital.
