The #technology #revolution sweeping across the globe at a great speed is also termed as a 4th Industrial Revolution (Short form IR4.0). This is indeed transforming #Manufacturing and Production processes, #Construction, #Delivery system and #Healthcare #procedures/services. Newer technologies are supporting better and faster #decision-making. It also facilitates global marketing/sales on a 24x7x365 basis. The countries like the USA, China, UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and Singapore have taken a big leap forward by introducing state-of-the-art technology. India, though the 6th largest manufacturing country in the world, yet lags behind in introducing #Robotics and AI in its industries. However, during 2017-2018 India has taken a big step forward to maximize the use of technology in manufacturing and ensure that the manufacturing sector contributes at least 25% of Indian GDP by 2022. Niti Aayog ( Planning Commission) of India has laid down a guidelines document of 116 pages, in Jun 2018 for maximizing the use of AI., ML and Robotics in various sectors like Manufacturing, #Transportation, #Agriculture, #Financial Services and Healthcare.
Some people criticize and denounce
technology as a #job-snatcher and resist its implementation. Luckily,
many others who are better informed, view technology as a facilitator to
bring the world closer to #network and share their #knowledge/experience for
solving emerging challenges. Developing the Corona vaccine in
less than a year during 2020 is a good example of knowledge sharing
and an evolving solution for the unknown #Covid-19. Our lifestyle, work environment,
travel, marketing, sales, communication, exchange of information, healthcare, #automation of processes, delivery system and relationships continue to be
impacted by ever-changing technology. Faster Internet access at affordable cost
continues to influence our #lifestyle, business practices and work environment.
The Internet has removed time zones and geographical boundaries and the whole
world is just one global village, where we can work/interact on a 24x7x365
basis. In many cases, there may not be the physical presence of another person
but electronically (Virtual Mode), we feel close enough and interact with full
confidence and mutual trust.
The Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) is
unstoppable and we must enable ourselves to take advantage of this wave and do
our jobs more smartly and efficiently. Technologies like Laser, #Artificial
Intelligence (AI), #Machine Learning (ML), #Robotics, #Drones, #Internet of Things (IoT), #Cloud Computing will take away some routine
jobs but these will also create new jobs, though requiring new skills.
Automation and computerization will save time, cost, and human effort.
Some leading IT companies in USA,
Holland and Germany have developed disrupting technology for Agriculture
farming. They have integrated Robotics and ML for #precision #plantation/ seeding
of plants and subsequent caring by precision watering using integrated
Robotics, Drones and ML This way, they propose maximum utilization of available
land and enhance production. It is expected that by 2022 many farmhouses will
increase their crop productivity by precision sowing and water sprinkling of
plants. Such technology-based farming will increase productivity and quality,
as it works without any fatigue and provides very high precision and
consistency.
Scope. The applications
and advantages of various technologies are too vast a subject to cover in one
chapter of this book Hence, the impact of major technologies as related to
the enhancement of productivity, accuracy, consistency, support to human
ingenuity and job creation has been covered in succeeding sections.
Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is the
mainstay for most of the emerging technologies where AI is appropriately
embedded in various equipment, instruments, sensors, machinery and devices. AI
is now being used extensively in many applications related to Business
Intelligence (BI), Digital Marketing, Robotics, Digital Manufacturing,
Automation, Smart Buildings, Smart Cities, Healthcare, Navigation and many
household appliances/ equipment. AI applications are based on a well-designed
algorithm by a team of experts from multi-disciplinary areas. These team
members are the data scientists, business managers, and technologists of
related electronics, #communication and control systems and #embedded software
The team also includes psychologists, healthcare experts and
experienced professionals with good domain #knowledge.
Machine Learning (ML) . ML is a subset
of AI where many experts of multi-disciplines, collectively evolve complex and
very efficient algorithms to carry out exhaustive numerical processing and
analysis of data. This helps the user to make a timely and correct decision. ML
has helped in a big way in healthcare, manufacturing, record keeping and
retrieving legal documents, preparing draft reports and speeches
for senior management and political leaders. However, ML is not straight
software programming but a very iterative method of training a machine to
respond to various real-life situations. ML is a very laborious process to
cater for all types of situations and make the computer act autonomously and
provide a reliable and accurate outcome. Reliability and security of data
are very important issues.
Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is a step forward
from man-machine interaction to machine-machine interaction. The “Things” refer
to objects like vehicles, machinery and sub-assemblies, communication devices,
household appliances/ gadgets and office equipment. With advances in embedded
technologies, AI and ML, the communication/interaction among digital devices
and processors has increased by many folds. IoT is reducing human
intervention and increasing efficiency and consistency in performing certain
jobs, which so far were being done manually. The Navigation, Transportation,
Agriculture, Healthcare and Household appliances will be greatly
impacted.
Mobile Communication,- 5 G. Mobile
Communication technologies have paved the way to faster growth from 2nd Generation
(2G) to 3G to 4G and 4G to 5G. All these have been launched in a phased
manner. 5G has larger bandwidth and transmission speed for mobile communication
from anywhere to anywhere, with facilities of speech, data and video. This
has provided a quantum jump to digital marketing, advertising, digital
photography, online teaching/learning, teleconferencing and journalism. This
will greatly facilitate navigation, digital marketing and IoT operations,
Blockchain. Blockchain is the
latest technology that has great potential for providing safe and secure
financial transactions without any intermediary. Blockchain relates to
maintaining one universal e-Ledger and carrying out financial transactions in a
cryptic currency (Bitcoin). The concept of Blockchain has already been
validated by the great success of Bitcoin. This success
j has motivated many other industries to get the best out of the
potential of Blockchain Technology (BCT). Since Mid-2020, Crypto-currency has
become more popular in the Bitcoin market which is already booming
at $3e400M,. India, which has been reluctant till 2020 to accept
crypto-currency as official currency has moved the Bill in its parliament in
2021 seeking approval to legalise Bitcoin / Block-Chain as technology for
business transactions. Blockchain rise is unstoppable and sooner than later
most leading economies of the world will adopt it, It is the right time to
learn, practice and gain competency to get a highly paid job in the Blockchain
environment. .
3-D Printing. 3-D Printing
is commonly used for rapid prototyping of various 3D solid products. The
product or its parts could be of plastic, metal or any other material which can
be in a molten state to flow through the nozzle and deposit the material layer
by layer onto the designated platform. The logic and process of printing are
embedded in the software file which is generated from an engineering CAD
drawing. China and Russia have further progressed 3-D printing technology
where instead of molten plastic dropping through nozzles to spread layer by
layer, it makes concrete mixture like material flow and deposit layer by layer,
as per 3D building structure design provided by the architect. It
is being extensively used for sky-scrapers in Middle East
countries. 3D printing is being used for prototyping human organs,
which is considered a boon for various surgical procedures.
Digital Manufacturing. Most of the
mechanical and piping industries have been using CAD / CAM since the 1970s.
However, the new generation of software like CATIA, Solid Works 3-D, E- Design,
Rivet (Open source) and Design Spark have revolutionized the drafting and
designing of various types of structures. Likewise, CNC
machines having programmable capability are handy for precision machining
work. Digital manufacturing is the use of an integrated, computer-based
system comprising of Simulation, 3D visualization, Analytics and Collaboration
tools to create manufacturing process definitions for the required
product. For instance, many of the long-term benefits from Siemens’s
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) cannot be achieved without a comprehensive
digital manufacturing strategy. Digital manufacturing is the key for
integration between PLM, shop floor applications and machines
/equipment. Digital Manufacturing has considerably reduced design effort
and production time. It also provides efficient documentation for version
control and easy traceability of defects. As an end result, it improves
Quality Assurance Process (QAP) and reduces rework costs.
Robot Process Automation (RPA). Like AI and ML, RPA is another technology that is automating
manufacturing. RPA automates many repetitive tasks that people used to do
manually. Technology is also helping in automation of testing and quality control in a
manufacturing facility, automation of packing, labelling and loading for
dispatch, warehouse storage and retrieval, using GPS based
transport vehicles and bringing in material Just-In-Time (JIT) for processing.
This cuts out store keeping space and handling effort. Digital manufacturing
requires a large number of microprocessors ( chips ) which are often in short supply.
Replacing a huge inventory of diesel/ petrol vehicles with
electric vehicles requires a large number of digital chips,
which continue to be in short supply. This chip shortage is
impacting the manufacturing sector. Micro-Chips
shortage may be overcome by Mid 2022.
Digital Marketing. The ease of
accessibility and affordability of Internet services and Digital networks like
Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp have
given a quantum jump to digital marketing. In this, you can ask
computers/smartphone devices for writing a compelling email, subject lines for
large retail pages. Digital marketing has extended the range from the domestic
to the global market. Today, marketing and advertising agents have
many software tools for faster and extended reach.
Robots. The robot is an electro-mechanical device with built-in logic
and controllers to perform certain routine jobs or those which are hazardous
for human beings. Robots are already in use for the following areas:
- Healthcare services,
- Housekeeping in hospitals, hotels, restaurants and homes.
- Manufacturing plants, assembly-line and quality testing in
production
- Process control industries related to Oil refineries, Fertilizer,
Cement, Drinks, Winery, and Food processing plants
- Hotels and restaurants for serving the customers.
- Robots have been very helpful during Covid-19 for maintaining
social distance from human beings, in places like Hospitals, parks,
local markets (Bazars) and shopping malls
- Robots duly integrated with optics and laser are doing a great job in
surgical procedures. They are programmable and have consistent performance
since they do not get tired.
- With embedded logic and AI, human-like Robots are becoming popular even to give company to lonely people in Japan.
- Robots will soon be deployed as
soldiers in the combat zone.
- Toys and Entertainment industry
- Animation in movies.
Advertising. Advertising has
taken a big leap forward where many companies are choosing automated
advertisements instead of having people choose appropriate magazines/journals
to place their advertisements. While working from their
homes/workplace, people can even select magazine pages and advertisement sizes
to suit their budget. Today, advertising agencies have many software tools for
digital photography, digital editing, animation, digital
billboards, bulk SMS and the use of multi-media on social
networks. You can get the best value for money and also track
viewership and their buying habits.
Report and speech writing. Some parts of
journalism, such as writing market reports, sports summaries, speeches for
politicians and CEOs are being automated in some western
countries. Based on the type of audience and profile of the speaker,
the AT/ML system can generate a few draft speeches for the speaker to
choose from.
Lawyers and Para-legal
staff. As we all know that in the early stage of any
lawsuit, the lawyer and his/her Para-legal staff have
to do the herculean task of sifting through many documents, depending
on the complexity of the case. Today, with the help of appropriate
technology like Big Data and ML, the user can easily and quickly sift
through documents. The introduction of software like “Discovery”
capable of analyzing large volumes of legal documents will reduce the number of
legal clerks and paralegals, who presently act as human search
engines. It is likely that with the ML system legally trained to
review past documents, precedents and case history can draft a legal brief for
the senior advocate who is handling the case. A statistical model using ML
could predict the outcomes of major legal cases.
Transportation with Self-driven
Vehicles. Driverless (Self Driven) vehicles have embedded
navigation logic modules implanted inside with many sensors to monitor road
conditions, movement of other vehicles in its lane and neighbouring
lanes. This navigation system also plans and takes the shortest and safest
route depending upon traffic congestion or any other obstruction so that
occupants of the car reach safely and on time to their planned destination. The
driverless car self-driven car developed by Google was successfully launched in
2017. This success of Google cars is going to cause a big shift in
car design and manufacturing plans. Likewise, the new concept
for transportation and delivery of goods by Amazon, Flip Kart, and many
others has delighted the customers.
Material handling jobs. Industrial Robots
and AI-empowered machines will efficiently and timely handle all materials
and store those in appropriate locations, in the warehouse or in departmental
stores. This will give a new dimension to the JIT concept of
manufacturing. These types of equipment will move the required material in/ out
of the warehouse as per pre-scheduled time or as per the latest command from
the central control room.
Power Grid management. Computer aided
powerhouse management generally deploys SCADA like software and engages fewer
technical operators, as against many shift engineers. A number of power
substations may be remotely controlled.
Drones. Drones are Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles (UAV) used for the surveillance and transportation of logistics
in difficult terrains. These have good deployment for monitoring water
pollution along shorelines and, lakes. These can spot forest fires and carry
out sprinkling water or deliver medicines in remote areas. During the Covid-19
crisis in India,, drones have played a great role in combating the Corona
pandemic. They have provided great support to law enforcement agencies for
managing crowds in keeping the 6Feet gap ( Social Distance). Drones also have
been used for detecting land encroachment / unauthorised
constructions. They are being used for jungle fire fighting and aerial water
sprinkling on crops. They have great use for military operations in patrolling
borders, locating clandestine locations of the enemy, hideouts of terrorists
and dropping weapons to destroy those. More is covered in chapter 10.
Digital Photography. Almost 10 years
ago. analogue cameras and video cameras using films have been wiped out of the
market. Today everyone is using digital cameras/ video cameras and smartphones.
These digital devices have embedded software and sensors which give better
resolution, colour selection, filtering, the composition of the scene/object,
shutter speed and focusing. The smartphone can take pictures,
make video clips and easily transmit those to their destinations. Google had
announced in Aug 2018 to introduce AI for Google photos and Gmail text
typing. Indeed, digital photography has revolutionized both
photography as well as cinematography.
Renewable Energy. All countries are engaged
to control carbon emission which is causing global
warming, polar ice melting, flooding of rivers, cyclones. hurricanes
and tornados . All these calamities result in vast destruction and
loss of human life and animals. To minimise the burning
of fossil fuel for power generation, all
countries are seriously engaged to harness natural resources
like sunlight, wind and sea tides to generate electrical power. Technology
is helping a lot in the development of various devices and components used to
convert these freely available natural resources into energy. All these systems
require technical manpower to do more innovations to make these systems more
affordable and efficient. This will also create more jobs.
Cloud Computing. Cloud computing is the
on-demand delivery of computing services like servers, storage,
databases, networking, application software, and analytics to the user
over the Internet. Companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Yahoo
offering these computing services are called cloud providers and typically
charge for cloud computing services based on usage. This has brought a new
revolution in the IT industry and business management. Cloud Computing offers
computing power like water supply or electricity where the user pays only for
the resources used and for the duration of use. The user need not own expensive
hardware and software to match the market requirements. It has also impacted
the Data Centres and Data Warehouses, since the customer can now use
both hardware and software resources on a need basis, with the option of expanding
and contracting computing configuration at will. The old concept of
in-house software development has paved the way for more outsourcing and
software application integration. Both big and small industries are adopting
cloud computing environments and reaping their benefits.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented
Reality (AR).Although VR and AR are very young fields yet they are growing very
fast. In the education sector, VR/AR will help the students and the teachers to
go across far off places and walk through the specific facility, while still
sitting in their classroom. It will encourage creativity and innovation as
students can immerse themselves must deeper in a future environment. Likewise,
it will help in tourism, exploration and entertainment areas.
Automation.
- Automation
of offices works. Automation of office works related
to housekeeping of records, text typing, data entry, accounting,
ticketing and reservation for travel/hotels/ resorts, banking, insurance
and healthcare have been already in vogue, in most of the countries. With
digitization coming to the forefront, digital advertising, digital
marketing, online billing and delivery systems have taken a quantum
jump resulting in saving in time, effort and cost. Therefore,
employees in various fields must develop alternate skills and become more
technology savvy to stay in demand. In
addition, automation of office operations, clerical jobs, housekeeping and
operations of house appliances helps in saving time, cost and effort However, due to Office Automation, many clerical
jobs and supervisory positions have been declared redundant and lost. In
the next 5 years, many human-intensive and routine jobs will be
automated in most of the countries. Therefore, such employees must acquire
alternate skills and become more technology savvy to stay in demand. Some
of the easy to use software tools for office automation are indicated
below:
§ MS Word – Text typing for emails, office
memos, official letters and reports. It has integrated tool Grammarly for spell
check and grammar check. This very is very useful for content writers and
authors.
· MS Excel – Spread Sheet. For basic
computation, basic accounting, statistical data, If-Then-Else
Analysis and record keeping.
· Electronic Documentation. Keeping
documents, pictures and images, videos catalogues, past
records and reports in digital form say in .docx, jpeg or
pdf formats. These could be maintained of the local disk or
cloud-like one Drive of Microsoft or My drive of Google.
· Digital Library. This is also
called an indexed library for storing data related to past projects, lessons
learnt and reports report. It helps in reusing available software assets.
· Digital Editing, It allows proofreading of
contents which could be in PDF file or word file.
· Auto reply. This is a time saver in
response to emails
- Automation of
Industries. Automation of various industries related to
manufacturing of goods, vehicles, railways engines (Diesel,
Electric,), railway coaches/wagons, aircraft, ships/boats, tools/
instruments, material handling equipment and earth-moving and construction
machinery continues to at a great speed. Similarly, process control
industries like oil refinery, cement, fertilizer, power generation
and power grid management, milk plants; drinks industry, food processing
and many others are fast adopting newer technologies to stay ahead in this
highly competitive and uncertain global market. Technology helps to
improve productivity, quality, efficiency and global competency.
Consequently, it creates new jobs and processes but those need new skills
and quick adoption of new technology. Technology
may take away many routine and labour intensive jobs but it also
provides the opportunity to learn new skills and have new jobs, which are
aligned to technology. Some of the major areas where
automation continues to grow rapidly are indicated below:
- Knowledge-Based Systems (KBS). These are being used in
many Defence and some Business applications. There is great job potential for
KBS.
- Fuzzy Logic. It is finding vast
applications for household appliances and business applications. A number
of household appliances like a washing machine and dishwasher use fuzzy
logic.
- Experts Systems. These are being
extensively used in agriculture, road transportation and weather
prediction.
- Speech Recognition. It is used very
effectively for auto-response to queries for Travel by Air, Rail, Road or
Sea, Holiday Resorts booking and Hotel reservations. This
technique has been further extended for voice to text typing which
is now available on all smartphones.
- Toys and entertainment. The electronic Toy
industry uses robotics, AI, sensors and embedded logic. Modern
children find great excitement in robotic based intelligent toys. With
robotics and AI integrations, these intelligent toys are a great
attraction for children. The modern toy industry is booming and thus
creating many new jobs.
- Health Care. AI and ML
systems are being used for diagnostics and interpretation of laboratory
tests results for Health care. For instance, fitting a lens in the
eye is fully automated.
- # Insurance. #Documentation and
records management of large customer databases are already automated and a
lot more is in the pipeline. , activities, transportation and
space missions.
- Global Positioning / Tracking System
(#GPS). It has a major role in locating and guidance of movement of
aircraft, vehicles, expeditions, ships and boats.
Survey of Job creation
due to AI and IT. Various techno experts and consulting agencies have
confirmed that emerging technologies will save in time, effort and
cost. In addition, technologies will improve consistency, productivity and
quality of products/services. Some technology-related companies have confirmed
that with the application of Robotics, AI and ML, their productivity and
efficiency had improved significantly. Accenture has managed to
automate 17,000 jobs till 2016 without any cut in existing staff and by 2017, they have automated 25,000 jobs. Likewise, Forrester has estimated that
by 2025, 16% of US manual jobs will be replaced by technologies, while the
equivalent of 9% of new jobs will be created. Therefore, net job loss in the
USA will be only 7%. These estimates will go under change due
to the pandemic Corona Virus (Covid-19) which started spreading worldwide in
Dec 2019. Corona has already forced most industries/institutions to modify
their work practices by maximum use of the latest technologies. The industry
has responded well and encourages its employees to work online and from their
homes. Some common areas for new job creation are:
· # Radiology. Dr Barani, of San
Francisco, stated in 2018 that Enclitic Technology empowers even average lab
technicians in diagnostic labs to perform like experts. Therefore,
instead of making some of them redundant and losing their jobs, the technology
can help them in filling the shortage of specialists.
· Self-driven Vehicles. Self-driven vehicles may need remote
operators to cope with emergencies. Therefore there are jobs for
professionals who are ready to quickly pick up new skills for handling new
technologies, machines and tools.
· Human Touch Jobs. Despite the use of
advanced AI, ML and Robotics, some jobs are always likely to be better done by
humans, particularly, where empathy is needed. Therefore, doctors, therapists,
hairdressers and personal trainers will always provide better human touch and
comfort to their customers. A similar analysis by experts at Deloitte (UK) has
reported big demand for healthcare jobs of nursing and technical assistants.
· The cumulative impact of IT on jobs. Technology may
disrupt certain jobs, but it also creates smarter, faster and more productive
jobs. Global competition is forcing many employers to quickly adapt the
emerging technologies and restructure their organizations to stay competitive.
In such a competitive scenario, employees need to quickly learn new
technologies for multitasking and remain relevant to this dynamic market. They
must be seen as highly productive for their employers. You need a
good knowledge of emerging technologies and domain knowledge related to your
career path. You should be technology savvy to get the best of your time
and efforts. Devices like 3-D printers, smartphones, digital testing tools and
intelligent testing instruments/tools like “Lab View” (also called virtual
Lab.) allow remote logging and processing. MATLAB and Minitab have added
more productivity for businesses to grow in the electronics industry.
Summary. IR 4.0 revolution is highly supported by
emerging technologies and it is unstoppable. IR 4.0 is
progressing at a great speed where a number of technologies are being
integrated to automate various functionalities of various industries like
banking, transportation, service centres, workplaces/offices, and homes.
Although automation will take away certain labour intensive jobs, it will
provide greater efficiency, better quality and saving in cost, time and effort.
Automation will provide extra safety and comforts to the working people. There
will be great savings in office space and manpower. It will enhance
productivity, quality and efficiency. There is no need to consider
technology a threat to your job and panic.
Technology revolution, IR4.0 is going to stay and rapidly grow further.
There is no need to worry that technology will take away our jobs. Technology
will be always there to support and enhance human endeavour in
every field. The field could be Manufacturing, Processing Industry,
Transportation, Teaching institutes, Healthcare, Digital Marketing, Supply
Chain Management (SCM) or Customer Relation Management ( CRM). This trend
will continue since technological development is going at a much faster pace
than evolving new rules, regulations, operating procedures and business
practices. It is up to us to harness emerging technologies judiciously and
do our job faster, and more efficiently. If you are proactive, have the
required knowledge, skills and are adaptable to quick learning of emerging
technologies, the jobs will be always available to you.
Brig(Retd) Dr Sarbjit Singh , Former
Exec Director, Apeejay College of Engineering, & Hony Adviser School of
Engineering and Technology Apeejay Stya University, Gurgaon,
Haryana, India, 122103
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