Improving UK Productivity and Industry 4.0

At a glance:

This research report looks at the potential for Industry 4.0 to improve productivity in the furniture industry

Highlights:

This research document has been prepared on behalf of the Furniture Industry Research Association. It aims to assist various sectors of the furniture industry to better understand the potential for Industry 4.0 to improve productivity.

Contents:

UK Productivity Conundrum

• Reasons for weak productivity
• Manufacturing Sector Productivity
• Factors affecting productivity performance

Industry 4.0

• Industrial revolutions
• Industry 4.0 origins
• Industry 4.0 building blocks
• Industry 4.0 production system

Stepping stones to Industry 4.0

Useful technologies/concepts to consider in the smart factory

• Cloud solutions
• Capital equipment with networked control systems
• Multi-purpose production lines
• Capital equipment with embedded data analysis and sensors
• Rapid additive manufacturing/ 3D printing
• Universal data integration networks
• Fully autonomous robots
• 3D simulation of manufacturing processes
• Predictive maintenance

‘Smart’ furniture factory of the future

• Vertical networking - optimisation of back office and supply chain processes
• Horizontal networking - optimisation of production processes

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