Networked intelligence, a wider fusion of technologies that spurs the Fourth Industrial Revolution, part II, the transformation of production systems

The second part of this article focuses on the transformation of the production systems in manufacturing and agriculture as a result of the convergence in the I4.0 technologies detailed in Part I. The category of general-purpose production machines is presented in detail. The interconnection of these machines and our ability to operate them remotely turn the stand-alone machines into production systems. The characteristics of these systems are studied separately for the cases of manufacturing and agriculture, showing the interrelation of the transformations in the two sectors. The I4.0 production systems give a tremendous boost in productivity as they allow the user of these systems to switch between different activities dynamically, cutting down costs and inefficiencies. The widespread deployment of such production systems fosters the emergence of a new social entity, the "prosumer." The subsequent rationalization in the production creates the conditions where overproduction gradually dies out while it shifts the balance from mass consumption to mass customization.