Industry 4.0

This course is a part of Business Excellence in a knowledge-driven Industry 4.0 world, a 2-course Professional Certificate series from edX.

We have witnessed the power of mechanization in the early nineteen century, automation in the seventies, information and the internet in the last decades. But now, the adaptation of connected intelligence into the business and social fabrics is advancing at an astonishing speed, which will completely change the way we conduct business.

In this course,we will discuss changes/predictions we forsee in the future, such as:

The credit card business will fade out gradually

All currency will be bitcoin

Whereas traditional internet gives rise to digital divide, the mobile internet will narrow the wealth gap

Most e-business models will become obsolete, leaving customer to factory (C2F)

No more talents to hide except partners

Mobile phones will be outdated and replaced by augmented virtual reality (AVR)

Big corporates will transform to big platforms

The birth of real Internet economics

The death of global manufacturing to networked and dispersed manufacturing

This course will explain how these changes will be brought about by the extensive use of digital intelligence, which will be available on mobile, internet, and pervasive computing as homes, offices and factories become a well knitted cyber-physical system.

Enabling tools such as Cloud Computing, Big Data, Internet of Things and Cyber Physical Systems are introduced. Automation, intelligence and collaborations are also discussed with particular reference to smart manufacturing, smart products/services and smart cities, and their opportunities and challenges.

This is not a technical course; instead part of the focus is on organizational readiness, skills gaps and competencies for knowledge workers to fully leverage the power of Industry 4.0.

Suitable for learners from all disciplines and interested in the mega changes to our society.

What you'll learn

• Understand the various stages of industrial revolutions
• Understand the Future of Work and the skills needed
• The drivers, enablers and compelling forces for Industry 4.0’s advancement
• Smart factories and howthey compare to existing ones
• Understand whatInternet of Thing (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
• Predictive Analysis, Big Data leading to data-driven decisions and automation
• Cyber Physical Systems and other major systems in Industry 4.0
• Understand the role and importance of data and cloud computing
• How to use the Cloud to support human-machine collaborative efforts
• The use of collaborative robots
• Examples of smart automations, products and services
• The challenges in cybersecurity and how to reduce them
• How organizations and knowledge workers can better prepare for Industry 4.0