Is your company prepared for the challenges and opportunities of Industry 4.0?
The fourth industrial revolution, called Industry 4.0, now affects nearly all industries and rapidly changes the way we do business. The digital change we are going through entails challenges as well as exciting opportunities.
Industrial production was changed by steam engines in the 19th century, formed by electricity in the 20th century and rethought with the opportunities that came with the automation in the 70s. Each of these technological conquests resulted in markable changes for both companies and employees.
Now, Industry 4.0 has made its entry and already entails intelligent robots, self-driving cars, smart factories, artificial intelligence and new types of automation. The basic principle of Industry 4.0 is to create intelligent networks across machines, components, systems and/or value chains. The connected entities communicate closely and can control each other autonomously or independently. An example of this could be machines that can predict errors and activate maintenance processes from a sub supplier. Another example could be machines that react on unexpected changes in the production and adjust the purchase of raw materials for the production accordingly.
It is clear, that Industry 4.0 and the technological progress will change the way we do business and the way we produce. It is necessary to rethink the organisational models and to re-educate parts of our workforce – and to think more strategically in the recruitment process as well.
This put demands on the managers who are responsible for ensuring the right competences in the companies. Already, we see strong tendencies to focus on attraction and retention of key technical personnel and managers who can effectively lead the companies through change.
Unique Human Capital is a consultancy house offering consultancy within human capital. In several cases, we have played a major role in finding the exact match which has helped both the candidate and the company to change according to Industry 4.0.
One of the reasons of our success is that we have developed a deep understanding of a number of industries and technologies. A knowledge which we incorporate in our cooperation with companies and organisations. Working with recruitment, we identify a candidate’s core competences and knowledge within specific disciplines. However, at the same time we must look beyond the formal qualifications for a position – we also include more intangible aspects such as a candidate’s ability to learn how to cope with challenges out of his/her area of competences as well as his/her understanding of the opportunities of new technologies.
When World Economic Forum talks about Industry 4.0, they specifically focus on the speed of change. Where the technological development formerly has been linear, the development of today is exponential – among others, due to faster and cheaper processing capability. This means that companies and organisations now must react and act faster than before, which proposes even closer relations with the close collaboration partners.
No matter how companies relate to Industry 4.0 their success will depend on the competences and knowledge they have through their employees and managers.
Contact Unique Human Capital on phone: +45 70 20 67 or e-mail: mail@uhc.dk for further information on how we can offer counselling that goes hand in hand with the challenges and opportunities of the Industry 4.0 changes.
