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Industry 4.0: What Manufacturers Should Know

Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is well underway, but we’re only beginning to see how society will change in future decades. People in the 60s and 70s couldn’t imagine the impact of computers, smartphones, and cloud computing. Now, we’re in the same position with the new technologies transforming our world today. The Fourth Industrial Revolution combines the fields of computing and science into the physical and biological environments, encompassing:

These new technologies are the natural evolution of what developed in the Third Industrial Revolution. We’ve particularly seen cloud-based computing and basic automation transform the manufacturing sector. What does the Fourth Industrial Revolution mean for manufacturing?

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CPQ

Unlock the secrets to turbocharging manufacturer operations! Dive into our comprehensive guide, where we demystify CPQ, making optimization a breeze. Click now and revolutionize your manufacturing process.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CPQ

Unlock the secrets to turbocharging manufacturer operations! Dive into our comprehensive guide, where we demystify CPQ, making optimization a breeze. Click now and revolutionize your manufacturing process.

Ready to Calculate Your ROI?

Considering CPQ software but unsure when you’ll see a return on your investment? Use the new CPQ ROI calculator now!

Industry 4.0: A New Era For Industry

Industry 4.0 emphasizes that companies must be willing to embrace change. Sticking to your “tried and true” way of running your business puts you at risk of getting left behind. Change is inevitable and needs to be embraced if you want to stay competitive.
There are some pretty compelling data to incentivize adopting the new technology:

What Manufacturers Can Do

Once you’ve learned to embrace change in your life and work, you’ll see that many areas in manufacturing can benefit from Industry 4.0 technology. One of these is the development of CPQ (configure, price, quote) software.

CPQ software simplifies the process of designing configurable and custom-built products. Customers no longer have to wait weeks for the engineering, manufacturing, and sales teams to analyze and calculate the cost of building a customized product to provide a price quote. Instead, the process is streamlined by software that takes the specifications, calculates the materials needed to make such a product, evaluates what materials are on hand, and then sets a price quote in a few minutes.

Companies that decide to implement CPQ software typically see their business expand and revenue increase without reducing their staff. Along with increasing productivity for sales reps, engineers are freed up to work on developing new and improved products rather than evaluating orders from prospective customers.

Embracing the Revolution

Manufacturing has changed dramatically thanks to digitalization and will continue to transform in the era of Industry 4.0. It’s critical to think long-term and become an early adopter of AI, IoT, and other advanced technologies entering the market. They help manufacturers achieve incredible efficiency gains and realize more profit right now — but soon, companies won’t be able to compete without advanced tech.

Want to future-proof your operation? Deepen your digital transformation with CPQ to streamline your sales process. Configure One Cloud, a Revalize brand, can help specialty manufacturers increase sales by as much as 135% and reduce quoting errors by 100%. Learn more in our ebook, Industry 4.0: How to Optimize Your Manufacturing Revenue.

Want to experience the Configure One Cloud difference? Schedule a free demo here.

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