Lean Manufacturing’s time has come or will it evolve with Industry 4.0? Experts have spent many hypotheses on this question. In ESA Automation, we believe in a future where lean production and Industry 4.0 not only can coexist, but are connected through an important bond.

The Industry 4.0 has shifted the focus on the importance of automated and interconnected production. More accessibility, efficiency and ability to exchange big volume of data among themselves: these are, in fact, the most important characteristics to look for in production machines and technologies, both to be competitive and to keep up with the new industrial principles.

The steam engine in the nineteenth century, electricity at the beginning of ‘900, and automation in the 1970s. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, technological advancement has driven productivity growth in industry. During the past years, we have witnessed a fourth and new wave of technological progress: the Industry 4.0, based on the rise of industrial digital technology.