February - 20208 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSIN MY OPINIONHow Supply Chain and Purchasing Professionals Can Better Enable Innovation and Growth in Industry 4.0By Cameron Ward, Senior Vice President, RS Components North AmericaWhile large, established OEMs often have sizable budgets, broad partnerships, and new technology to keep pace with the changes driven by Industry 4.0, smaller manufacturers and technology startups often find themselves with less time, capital, or expertise to dive headfirst into the new, rapidly swelling ocean of automation. This is where global, high-service distributors can play a critical role in curating, testing, and providing the technology while small-to-medium sized companies need to take advantage of the speed and efficiency offered by today's technologies.We hear the buzzwords daily--artificial intelligence (AI), bots, cloud computing, machine learning, robotics, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)--but what the Fourth Industrial Revolution really comes down to is connected devices and data and how that data is used to accelerate business decisions, efficiency, and growth.Industry 4.0 encompasses so much new smart technology that staying current can be overwhelming for many companies. Distributors can play a key role in helping these manufacturers, buyers, and supply chain professionals make the right decisions on data usage and new technologies, so they don't fall behind.At RS Components, we realized that many customers aren't sure what they need Cameron Ward
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