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11.29.23
In the first article in this series, we discussed the critical role Manufacturing plays in North Carolina – through its employment, wages, and contribution to state gross domestic product (GDP). Then we delved into how NC’s Manufacturing sector has evolved over the past three decades – from one based on traditional labor-intensive production and craftsmanship, centered around Textiles, Apparel, and Furniture to sophisticated technical precision and mechanization in growing industries like Chemicals, Metal Fabrication, and Transportation Equipment. That transition not only changed the amount of labor needed, but also the skills and technical processes involved. North Carolina and the world again face another period of industrial change. This next phase of industrialization, commonly referred to as Industry 4.0, will reshape NC’s Manufacturing sector once again – and in ways as significant, or more so, than previous revolutions.
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a revolution as “a sudden, radical, or complete change.” While not exactly sudden, prior industrial revolutions have radically changed how Americans, and most of the world’s citizens, work and live. The first industrial revolution is commonly thought of as the period of mechanization in the late 18th to early 19th centuries that began to shepherd people from farms into cities and urban factories. The second industrial revolution occurred later in the 19th and early 20th centuries utilizing the railroad, telecommunications, electrical power, and process innovations to spawn mass production. The latter half of the 20th century marked the third wave of industrialization – defined by digital advancements in computing and communicating, enabling robotics, rapid production, and global supply chains. If industry prognosticators, corporations, and economists are right, the coming decade(s) will again change the world as advanced technology and big data infiltrate factories. According to the World Economic Forum, “the speed, breadth and depth of this revolution is forcing us to rethink how countries develop, how organizations create value and even what it means to be human.”
Fortunately, North Carolina has two important assets to help propel Manufacturing into the future and seize the opportunities and promise of Industry 4.0:
- Research and development capacity – to develop new innovations, products, and companies
- Skilled workforce – thousands of existing Industry 4.0-enabling, skilled workers.
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