Tips For a Smoother Transition to Industry 4.0

The fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) is the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology. It is the altering of the way products are created by spreading digitized manufacturing/processing and automation.

The goal of Industry 4.0 is to increase the amount of usable data and improve decision making. Nowadays many organisations still don't understand how Industry 4.0 could impact their business as well as are struggling to find the know-how or workforce to support their transition. 

The Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club is part of the TransIT project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. We are aiming to develop and provide innovative curricula, educational methods and training courses that guarantee an effective transition to Industry 4.0 standards. Moreover, the project is developing work-based competences necessary for managing the transition to Industry 4.0. Read more about the TransIT project's objectives here.

The project will provide a solution for company leaders, industry executives, HR professionals, SMEs and VET centers. We strive to inspire these groups to innovate and optimise their potential in the times of transitioning to Industry 4.0.

According to Worximity, more and more technologies will be implanted in factories, there will be increase in the human-machine interactions and new jobs will be created, whilst employers will look for a variety of skills related to the transition to 4.0. 

In one of their blog articles, Worximity suggests a number of tips to address the changes impacting the workforce in the era of Industry 4.0.

1. Train and develop talents - make sure you provide training and introduce programmes for skills development to ensure a smoother transition to Industry 4.0 and consider augmented reality or online learning.
2. Deliver HR flexibility - if your business is hiring R&D specialists, software engineers, data scientists you are competing with various technology companies, which are attracting talent with numerous 'hard to refuse' perks. Therefore, it is of high importance to innovate in this space and be more flexible in your offer to new employees.
3. Delegate decision-making - considering you are developing your employees to perform more complex tasks, this would mean that you need to give them more autonomy in decision-making. Do consider flattening the hierarchical structures.
4. Make employees responsible for innovation - after training your employees and you have granted them with autonomy, the next step is to let them be responsible for innovation and understand the entire process. 
5. Recruit based on abilities - the outdated way of recruiting based on experience and diploma will not work towards the demands of Industry 4.0. Having versatile employees in the manufacturing industry will be key, as well as their ability to learn quickly and work on various projects at the same time.  
6. Strategically plan industry-related HR activities - make a list with all significant information about your workforce such as parental leave, subcontractors, temporary contracts, retirement, etc. with focus on their training needs and your recruitment needs. 

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