What is Industry 4.0? This buzzword seems to have been thrown around for quite some time now. How is it affecting today’s NDT manufacturing processes compared to the past? What new technologies have risen from Industry 4.0 in the past few years to benefit NDT? To answer all these questions, it is important to look back and understand how it came to be.
The notion that machines could replace humans occurred during the first industrial revolution (1760-1840). This was the age of mechanical production, where the advent of the steam engine helped provide energy to advanced textile inventions like the spinning mule and power loom. Other industries like coal, iron and railroad industries boomed during this time as well. All of this symbolized the transition from human power in homes to machine power in factories.