Tag Archives: Digital Transformation

How Quality 4.0 is Changing the Future of Business: Part III

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Quality 4.0

In this installment of our series dedicated to Quality 4.0, we continue our look at some of the practical applications of Quality 4.0 methods in different industries. With supply chain being a prominent concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tools of Quality 4.0 promise to alleviate many of the stresses that currently plague industries around the world and to improve the future of global supply networks. 


Logistics 4.0 


Supply chains, particularly those that stretch across international boundaries, are extraordinarily complex systems. They involve millions of products moving across multiple touchpoints. Every participant contributes to the goals of maximizing efficiency, productivity, and profit while minimizing damage, risk, and threats to safety.  

Logistics examines how producers, inspectors, and distributors are interconnected and can complement one another to increase overall system performance. This contrasts with the typical approach taken inside of an organization, in which individual functions pursue their own agendas and … Read more...

Connected Safety Q&A: How the Global COVID-19 Pandemic Is Fueling Innovation and Digital Transformation

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Connected Safety at Expert Connect

The outbreak of COVID-19 ushered in dramatic changes to EHSQ management, which, as a result, have propelled leaders to ramp up business continuity efforts, fortify their risk management strategies and improve day-to-day operations to boost efficiency.

In our upcoming Expert Connect Session, Innovating Towards a Future Focused on Connected Safety, Senior Product Marketing Manager Aaron Davis from Intelex Technologies and Tom Henson, Vice President, Global Marketing and Product Management from Industrial Scientific will take you on a journey that will explore how advancements in connected safety and connected worker technologies are changing key areas of EHSQ management, including environmental compliance and hazard monitoring, control of work and lone worker safety.

According to Davis, we’ve reached what he called “an inflection point in innovation” of safety technologies, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it had not only on business performance and management worldwide but on worker safety. Davis … Read more...

How Quality 4.0 is Changing the Future of Business: Part 1

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Quality 4.0
What is Industry 4.0?


Industry 4.0 is one of the most frequently occurring terms in contemporary business articles. Entering “Industry 4.0” into the Google search engine produces 298 million hits in English alone. Many technology companies are talking about it, promoting it, and selling it. However, defining what it means and who it impacts can be a difficult task.

The concept of Industry 4.0 was introduced in 2011 at the Hannover Fair. This project, launched by the German government, was dedicated to the accelerating digital transformation in Germany’s manufacturing industries. Also referred to as Smart Manufacturing or Smart Production, the concept derives from the “fourth industrial revolution,” which is the modern culmination of industrial macrotrends since the late 1700’s:

  • Industry 1.0: the introduction of machine production to replace manual production in the eighteenth century.
  • Industry 2.0: the introduction of electricity, railroads, and the telegraph to augment machine production in
… Read more...

How Digital Transformation Is Propelling Operational Excellence in Oil and Gas

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Digital Transformation Oil and Gas

Digital transformation plays an impactful role in shaping practices and processes in most industries, including oil and gas. From accurately forecasting the number of incidents to automating administrative tasks related to those incidents and process hazard analyses, the digitization of the oil and gas industry has contributed to worker safety, streamlined EHSQ and compliance processes and nurtured improved safety cultures.

While the oil and gas industry has not been at the forefront of innovation historically, it has, however, retained its position as a leading player in the economy as it continues to be the largest source of energy (in the U.S., it is the #1 source). As the source material for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, it is also used to make products including propane, asphalt and petro-chemical feedstocks as well as heavy and light fuel oil. On top of that, it is also used in producing many consumer products … Read more...

Your EHS 4.0 Survival Guide: Digital Transformation with Connected Solutions

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There’s a lot of discussion about “emerging technologies,” such as smart sensors, drones, cloud computing and mobile applications. But what many EHS and operations professionals fail to realize is that they already have powerful connected solutions close at hand.

Whether you are responsible for worker safety or operations management, you understand the complexities of managing workers, safety, and production while continuing to strive for operational excellence. Recently, you probably faced unscheduled shutdowns and consequently will engage in unscheduled start-ups. These are challenging times that require attention to process and safety management systems to prevent incidents.

You’re not alone in this challenge. EHS professionals who don’t embrace all of the connected solutions available to them often find themselves in the dark when it comes to identifying and mitigating hazards and improving how people and equipment are performing.

Connected Solutions Amplify Worker Safety

In this May 12 EHS Today webinar, “Your EHS … Read more...

How Quality 4.0 Can Support Successful Digital Transformation

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Digital transformation is a way of using cutting-edge technology to solve traditional problems and create new models for knowledge organization, revenue generation, and innovation. Since 2010, the topic of digital transformation has been the focus of considerable attention in every industry. It holds the promise of digital platforms that provide a single-source-of-truth for collecting, analyzing, and sharing data and information across the organization to allow immediate, data-driven decision making that can help to confront any operational challenge.

However, many organizations fall into the trap of believing that a successful digital transformation project is simply a matter of purchasing the correct technology, and that the technology itself will dictate the behaviour and processes that lead to organizational excellence. As a result, many digital transformation projects collapse and fail before creating any meaningful change in the organization.

Quality 4.0 can help prevent this. It’s a digital transformation strategy that emphasizes quality and … Read more...