"What is Industry 4.0 and How Did We Get Here?"

The evolution of technology, the workplace, and the nature of educational needs supporting the current phase of the American Industrial Revolution.

 Ask any manufacturing company today about what the future holds, and likely the answer will be some form of “Industry 4.0”.   Some even call it the “4th Industrial Revolution.” But what do these labels mean, and what about 3.0, 2.0 and 1.0? Does manufacturing progress in such big steps?

By looking at the long sweep of manufacturing history (and personal experience over the past 4 decades) we see both a continuous evolution of technology and a set of “principles of manufacturing”. These principles, which are drawn from the unique requirements of manufacturing, are universal and unchanging. This implies that Industry 4.0 is simply a moment in time along this trajectory, and one that continues to advance manufacturing to an ever more complex technical system, but one that still is based on these principles.

In this talk the state of manufacturing technology will be examined along with how that technology affects the workforce. The conclusion is that world class manufacturing has and will always require mastering the necessary technologies in the context of the underlying fundamentals and that education at all levels of the enterprise must include both.

MIT Professor David Hardt

Professor Hardt is an expert in system dynamics, control and manufacturing processes. He is the Ralph E. and Eloise F. Cross Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. His process control research has centered on a variety of processes from welding and sheet metal forming to micro-embossing and most recently continuous soft-lithography.

Professor Hardt has served as the Director of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, Engineering Co-Director of the MIT Leaders for Manufacturing.

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The Mill Talks at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation are free and open to the public and are made possible by the generous support of the Lowell Institute.

Advance registration is strongly recommended; we cannot guarantee that space will be available the night of the event.