EHS 4.0: Connected Safety Is Smart Safety

Networks and connectivity make technology better. Imagine how unproductive an office full of PCs would be without a LAN connection, or a modern military would struggle without a command, control and communications (C3) network.

Real-time connectivity expands the capabilities of devices and the people using them. This explains why experts project that there could be over 41 billion connected devices in use by 2025, with business and industry being areas of extremely high growth.

Industrial control systems (ICS) are nothing new to the manufacturing industry. SCADA (Supervisory control and data acquisition) has enabled real-time control of switches, pumps and valves since the 1960’s. The success of SCADA, the growth of cloud computing and the evolution of the Internet of Things has given rise to next generation of industrial intelligence: Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 Needs EHS 4.0

Industry 4.0 employs cyber-physical systems that connect people, machines and data to create smart … Read more...

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

Industry 4.0 and Quality 4.0

In our previous blog on Quality 4.0, we introduced the ways in which the principles of Industry 4.0 have impacted the practice of quality. In today’s blog, we’ll look at the first of a series of case studies to see how this revolution plays out in today’s organizations.


Maintenance 4.0


Equipment failure in a manufacturing environment can disrupt cash flow and productivity. Not only do machine repairs cost money and time to repair, but there is also a cost to sitting idle. Time and money are lost through decreased productivity and missed deadlines, while rushed work (for example, immediately after recovery from the failures) can lead to additional product defects or safety hazards. While traditional maintenance techniques react to machine failures only after they occur, Maintenance 4.0 offers the opportunity to collect data to predict and prevent machine downtime before it occurs, potentially protecting millions of dollars of productivity … Read more...