Industry 4.0 and the digital transformation journey
David Makin A and Evan Boyle A BA Worley, Level 12, 333 Collins Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3000, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: evan.boyle@worley.com
The APPEA Journal 59(2) 643-646 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ18261
Accepted: 12 April 2019 Published: 17 June 2019
Abstract
Industry 4.0 is upon us and our leaders are reimagining what our industrial world should look like. We are embracing more and more automation, big data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence in the quest for productivity and safety. The industry talks of social responsibility and sustainability, and these drivers are changing the world in which we work and the ways we interact. Although physical changes (new equipment, systems and tools) are relatively easy to fathom, the social impact is not. Traditional business services, execution and operational models are changing or even disappearing, and methods of interaction are equally diverse. This paper explores the roles we play, will play and must play as we look to the future. Business execution, business operation and the support it requires are transitioning. We operate facilities remotely, see failures before they happen and interact with the virtual world to better understand the real one. These present new and exciting opportunities with different skills and approaches to traditional industry. How we effect this transformation in the social world is just as important to the success of Industry 4.0 as the technology revolution. The complex mix of physical, digital and social interplay in delivering the safety and productivity vision of the shiny future is reviewed from the personal standpoint. Because, although the rise of Industry 4.0 is upon us, it is the people who will make it successful.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, automation, employment, machine learning, occupational choice, robotics, skill demand, societal impact, technological change, wage inequality, workforce dislocation.
David Makin currently serves as the Vice President of Integrated Digital Operations for Worley. He is an accomplished technology executive and transformational leader with more than 25 years international experience working with some of the world’s most successful project delivery and technical services organisations. David maintains industry leading expertise in project delivery and information management technologies used to execute the world’s largest and most complex capital projects. The energy and resources sector has been a key area of focus for much of his career. David is a Certified IT Professional (CP) with the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and holds a Master of Information Systems (MIS) in e-Business and Supply Chain management from Deakin University (Victoria, Australia). |
Evan Boyle is the Senior Director Technology Solutions in Australia for Worley. He has more than 30 years experience working in the energy and resource sector in diverse roles in the engineering and project delivery space. Many of Evan’s projects and roles focused on innovation and the use of technology to deliver industry firsts. Evan is a fellow of Engineers Australia, a member of the Institute of Marine Engineers and is chartered in Europe and Australia. Evan has a BSc, Civil Engineering from Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) and an MSc Offshore Structures from City University, London. |
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