The United States and Germany are both well-deserved manufacturing powerhouse, the former is the world leader in information technology, the latter’s industrial heritage is unique in the world. The Industrial Internet proposed by the U.S. and Industry 4.0 proposed by Germany have both similarities and certain differences.
Commonalities between Industrial Internet and Industry 4.0
First of all, the Industrial Internet was initiated by General Electric in the United States and promoted by a number of well-known companies, such as Intel and IBM, which set up the Industrial Internet Alliance, which is extremely similar to the situation of Germany’s Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 was jointly initiated by the German Academy of Engineering, Fraunhofer Society, Siemens, etc., and was incorporated by the German government into the High Technology Strategy 2020, becoming one of the country’s ten future projects. Therefore, from the point of view of the initiation and promotion process, both the Industrial Internet and Industry 4.0 reflect the leading role of large enterprises, and at the same time permeate the enthusiasm for change of these large enterprises.
Secondly, both the Industrial Internet and Industry 4.0 advocate the interpenetration of industry and the Internet, which reflects the vision of linking the manufacturing industry as the pillar of the nation with the rapidly developing information industry. The use of information technology and intelligent technology to transform the current manufacturing and service model, improve the productivity of enterprises and enhance the market competitiveness of products and services is the core idea of the two strategies.
Third, both strategies are realized through real-time data collection, transmission, processing and feedback based on the Internet of Things and the Internet. Industrial Internet is to conduct in-depth analysis of data received from sensors, to explore the potential of production or service systems in terms of performance improvement, quality improvement, etc., and to realize the efficiency improvement and optimization of system resources; while Industry 4.0 is to create digital factories through the full integration of information networks and industrial production systems, and to change the mode of industrial production and the mode of service.
The subtle differences between the Industrial Internet and Industry 4.0
The two have different focuses on the industrial chain. The Industrial Internet focuses on the formation of an open network environment, through the data collected by industrial sensors, after analysis, to establish a globalized industrial database, so as to realize the collection of communication, control and calculation. Such a database can be a clear guide for product design and service, which are therefore the focus of the Industrial Internet. On the other hand, Industry 4.0 is aimed at building smart factories, introducing information technology into the production and manufacturing of products, centralizing and intelligently transforming the original decentralized production control, and realizing a highly flexible production or service mode.
Different industrial chain focuses will bring different development priorities. Industrial Internet emphasizes openness, which is based on the information resources of the whole industry, improves the safety and reliability of equipment, reduces energy consumption, material consumption and maintenance costs, etc. At the same time, it can reduce the demand for human labor in the production process, and improve the flexibility and intelligence of the production process. Industry 4.0 more emphasis on production equipment and production process intelligence, it advocates CPS as the core, the establishment of products and production equipment, factory and factory horizontal integration, so that the production system for organic organic integration, to achieve the entire production process of intelligence, and thereby improve production efficiency.
