HKSTP TecONE Seminar “Industry 4.0 and Its Potential Opportunities for Tech Companies”

HKSTP TecONE InfoTalk seminar named “Industry 4.0 and Its Potential Opportunities for Tech Companies” was organized by Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) on 13th Sep 2017.  HKPC Fraunhofer Certified i4.0 expert & trainer Mr. Lyan Law (Lead Consultant, HKPC) shared what i4.0 stand for and the key transition from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0, as well as probed the technology status of the factories in the Greater Pearl River Delta and the opportunities for the solution providers.  After the seminar, we would visit the first i4.0 demonstration centre in Hong Kong which opened on 24 Aug 2017.

Firstly, Mr. Lyan Law introduced HKPC history and then briefed Fraunhofer Institute which had 67 institutes in Germany. Then he briefed the global industrial trend and direction which included Information, Technology and Market trends.   Different countries had different terms to describe the same concept of Industry 4.0.  However, Industries 4.0 is not just automation.

Then Mr. Law mentioned the definition of Industry 4.0 based on Fraunhofer and there were some key words such as “The Fourth Industrial Revolution”, “Life Cycle of Products”, “Information in Real Time”, “Value Chain”, “Data” and “Connection of People, Things and Systems creates Dynamic”.

Mr. Law also briefed the core structure of i4.0 that were senors, internet, data and interaction between human and machine. It caused intelligent project, innovation, supply chain and production so as to form a new digital business model and created values.  

One of examples was aircraft engine that business model changed from ownership to rental.  The supplier provided the aircraft engine rental service with predictable maintenance.  It was the market trend named “Pay-per-use”.  

Finally, Mr. Lyan Law introduced the Smart Industry One (SIO) Smart Technology that aimed at demonstrating to industry the concept of Industry 4.0 through a service oriented realization cycle of “Consumer-Manufacturer-Customer (CMC)”.  

He also introduced HKPC i4.0 service included the maturity model of i4.0 to evaluate SME / Tech company readiness for transformation from i2.0/i3.0 to i4.0.

Lastly, Mr. Horace Leung (Consultant, Smart Manufacturing & Materials, HKPC) briefed their recently workshop and study mission for i4.0. (I had met Mr. Horace Leung in AS9100 Seminar in 2012.)

After that we visit the SIO in HKPC.

At the end, Mr. Lyan Law introduced the smart factory’s core objectives that were enhancing the productivity and efficiency.  He briefed the transition process between i3.0 and i4.0.  

Reference:

HKSTP - http://www.hkstp.org

TecONE - http://tecone.hkstp.org/t1_web/

Smart Industry One - https://www.hkpc.org/en/industry-support-services/support-centres/smart-industry-one