Autonomous Revolution: Industry 4.0

While some views consider the Industry 4.0 revolution as an extension of the third revolution, attention is also drawn to aspects that distinguish this new revolution from the others (Verl, 2017) 1. Speed: Unlike its predecessors, this revolution is not linear but arrives at an exponential pace. It concerns the multifaceted global world's continuous production of newer and more superior-capability technologies. 2. Breadth and Depth: This revolution is built on digital technologies infrastructure and progresses through unprecedented paradigms in the business world, other segments of society, and individuals, while rapidly developing technological changes and hardware. Generational differences are widening more than ever. 3. System Impact: The Industry 4.0 revolution develops through a network system where everything can be connected to everything else, alongside all management information systems, while encompassing the integrated transformation of massive systems worldwide. (Fırat and Fırat, 2017) Looking at the 3 subjects we mentioned that distinguish the new revolution from others from another perspective, it becomes evident that Industry 4.0 is not so much an extension of the 3rd Industrial Revolution but rather its inevitable consequence. In other words, autonomy, which is the most important pillar of Industry 4.0, emerges as the defining character of the revolution itself.

Technology, a product of the differentiation-creating processes of today's hyper-competitive market, plays a role as the most important factor in other differentiation-creating processes, while the collaborative approach created by competition feeds progress itself and does so at an accelerated pace.

Indeed, the autonomy of autonomization is becoming subject to legal regulations in a manner similar to Isaac Asimov's "3 Laws of Robotics" from his essays. Rather than taking the subject to "killer robots," if we turn to its essence; the rapid development of high technology and increasing international competition are seen as the most important drivers of structural change in global economies. Accordingly, competition leads to technological development, newly developed technologies create new opportunities, and markets produce new products to meet changing demand. In other words, changes and transformations in the economy are largely dependent on technological progress. This process, whose effects we can easily observe in many sectors and at whose beginning we still are, is advancing rapidly, and as development determines its own needs, it rapidly establishes its infrastructure. At the level of awareness reached, it is very clear that all companies and even states are making efforts to be part of the process. Because change has begun; the ways of doing business, professions, markets… Only those who catch up with change will be able to sustain their existence in global competition, and all of this will happen naturally.             Emre Ercan Technical Director Eva Kimyevi Maddeler ve Mühendislik San. Tic. A.Ş.      

References • Verl, A. (2017). Robotics & Industrie 4.0. IFR- International Federation of Robotics. • Fırat, S. Ü., & Fırat, O. Z. (2017). Sanayi 4.0 devrimi üzerine karşılaştırmalı bir inceleme: Kavramlar, küresel gelişmeler ve Türkiye. Toprakİşveren Dergisi (114).