The road to Industry 4.0 was initiated by the introduction of mechanical manufacturing powered by water and steam. The cradle of industrial development was Great Britain (England and Scotland), which was ahead of other countries in terms of the number of innovations introduced to the industry. One of the first machines, the use of which accelerated production, was a mechanical weaving loom patented in 1786 by Edmund Cartwright. How did subsequent stages develop, which inventions played a key role and what is Industry 4.0 in terms of the current dynamic development of enterprises?
Industry 1.0 - launching the machinery of change
Inventors and their inventions undoubtedly helped to begin the transformation of industry. When engineer James Watt patented an improved version of Thomas Newcomen's device called the "atmospheric machine" in 1769, it was possible to reduce fuel consumption and thus lower production costs.
The reason for this was that the steam engine had a separate cylinder to condense the steam. What is more, from now on coal began to be used for power generation. From this point on, more and more machines appeared that successfully sped up production, reduced manufacturing costs, and ushered in a period of mechanization. However, initially only in England.
Although other European countries undoubtedly pursued similar industrialization, the revolution in France or Germany proceeded more slowly. In England, there was a prohibition on the export of machinery, so it wasn't used on the European continent, and development began in other areas of industry (railroad industry - Germany). The factor that led to the end of the first era of industry, and at the same time began the entry into the second industrial revolution, was electricity.
Industry 2.0 - dynamic development of electrical inventions
At the turn of the 20th century, the use of electricity and Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb was a definite milestone in change. Already during this period, in 1870 thanks to electricity first mass production line was started. It is worth noting that during the second industrial revolution, the changes were much broader and involved many industries, including the production of soap, soda, dyes, cosmetics, and medicines.
Another important historical point is the invention of the method of refining crude oil by Ignacy Lukasiewicz in 1852. Thanks to that petroleum started to be used as fuel. It was also the beginning of the development of copper and aluminum smelting.
Important inventions that pushed technical thought forward were means of communication - the telegraph (Samuel Morse in 1838), radio (radiotelegraph - Guglielmo Marconi in 1908), or telephone (Graham Bell in 1876). It was thanks to them that the development of, among other things, transportation was possible.
Industry 3.0 - computerization and the beginning of automated production lines
The 1970s marked the beginning of another revolution, one much closer and more understandable to us. It was the era of digitalization that moved industrial progress forward, giving much more chances for more effective and efficient production, and enabling proper management of industrial processes. An extremely important concept in the context of Industry 3.0 is automation, which occurred through the use of computers and programmable logic controllers. The implementation of the first robots in companies in the industrial sector made it possible to introduce completely unmanned production lines. The early phases of industrial robot development date from 1954 to the mid-1970s. This era of the industry also saw the start of 3D printing technologies. Slightly later than robotization, in 1984, Chuck Hull developed the first SLA 3D printing technology, which was patented two years later. In turn, the development of 3D printing using FDM technology began in 1988.
It is also worth noting that this era was defined as a scientific and technical revolution. It was during this period that the dynamic development of medicine, science and technology took place.
And so the history of the next industrial revolution - Industry 4.0 - is taking shape before our eyes. Its term was first widely presented during the Hannover Messe in 2011. What are the characteristics of this stage of development?
In the next article, we will present the characteristics of the fourth industrial revolution. It has been gradually making its way into companies and businesses over the past few years, propelling them to further transformations in manufacturing and production automation.
