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QUALITY 4.0
Let’s Get
Digital
The many ways the fourth industrial
Just the revolution is reshaping the way we think
Facts about quality | by Nicole Radziwill
To adapt to
the disruptive
changes brought The technology landscape is richer and more promising
about by the than ever before. In many ways, cloud computing, big
fourth industrial
revolution, a data, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), block-
new perspective chain, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI),
on quality is
required. machine learning (ML), Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6),
cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things (IoT)
Organiza-
tions must all represent new frontiers. These technologies can help
leverage Quality improve product and service quality, and organizational
4.0 tools—such
as artificial intel- performance.
ligence, machine In many regions, the internet is now as ubiquitous as
intelligence, per-
vasive computing electricity. Components are relatively cheap. And, a robust
and connectiv- ecosystem of open-source software libraries means that
ity—to improve
their quality and engineers can solve problems 100 times faster than just two
performance. decades ago.
Quality profes- This digital transformation is leading us toward connected
sionals possess intelligent automation: smart, hyperconnected agents
the skills required
to help their deployed in environments where humans and machines
organizations cooperate—and leverage data—to achieve shared goals.
succeed in the
fourth industrial This isn’t the world’s first industrial revolution. In fact, it is its
revolution. fourth—and the disruptive changes it will bring suggest we’ll
need a fresh perspective on quality to adapt to it.
Why now?
Although the growth and expansion of
the internet accelerated innovation in the
late 1990s and 2000s, only now are we In addition, improved network infrastructure is expanding the extent
poised for the fourth industrial revolu- of connectivity, making it more widely available and robust. And unlike
tion. What’s changing? the 1980s and 1990s, there are far fewer communications protocols that
++ Production and availability of are commonly encountered, so it’s a lot easier to get one device to talk
information: More information is to another device on your network.
available because people and devices ++ Intelligent processing: Affordable computing capabilities (and process-
are producing it at greater rates than ing power) are available to analyze and interpret that information so it
ever before. Falling costs of enabling can be incorporated into decision making. High-performance software
technologies, such as sensors and libraries for advanced processing and visualization of data are easy to
actuators, are catalyzing innovation in find and, in many cases, easy to use. In the past, for example, software
these areas. developers had to write their own code for even common tasks. Now,
++ Connectivity: First and foremost, the they can use open-source solutions that are battle tested by many.
introduction of IPv6—which defines ++ New modes of interaction: The ways in which we acquire and interact
how data are sent from one computer with information also are changing. In particular, new interfaces, such
to another—has ensured that there as AR and VR, expand possibilities for training and navigating a hybrid
will be enough addresses to locate the physical-digital environment with greater ease.
billions of devices that are expected to ++ New modes of production: 3-D printing, nanotechnology and gene
connect to the internet. The informa- editing are poised to change the nature and means of production in
tion produced by these devices will be several industries. Technologies for augmenting or enhancing human
instantly accessible over the internet. performance (exoskeletons, brain-computer interfaces and even
autonomous vehicles, for example) also will open new mechanisms for
innovation in production and distribution. New technologies, such as Predictive maintenance can
blockchain, have the potential to change the nature of production as help you anticipate equipment
well by challenging ingrained centralized perceptions of trust, control, failures and proactively reduce
consensus and value creation. downtime. Quality 4.0 initiatives
can help you assess supply
Discovery: The new role of quality chain risk on an ongoing basis,
What we recognize as today’s quality profession began during the middle or help you decide whether to
of the second industrial revolution, with the methods of scientific manage- take corrective action.
ment introduced by Henri Fayol in France and Frederick Winslow Taylor in
the United States. Factories needed methods to ensure assembly lines ran
smoothly so they produced artifacts to specification. Workers could now
know how to engage in the production process and costs were controlled.
As industrial production matured, those methods grew to encompass 3. Improve transparency, traceability and
the design of processes built to produce to specification. In the 1980s and auditability.
1990s, the adoption of personal computing once again changed the land- 4. Anticipate changes, reveal biases
scape. Organizations regrouped their quality efforts around the value of and adapt to new circumstances and
culture and active engagement in quality—and total quality management knowledge.
(TQM), lean and Six Sigma gained in popularity. 5. Evolve relationships, organizational
As connected, intelligent and automated systems are more widely boundaries and concept of trust to
adopted, we can once again expect a renaissance in quality tools and reveal opportunities for continuous
methods. The progression can be summarized through four themes: improvement and new business models.
1. Quality as inspection: In the early days, quality assurance relied 6. Learn how to learn by cultivating self
on inspecting bad quality out of the total items produced. Walter A. awareness and other awareness as
Shewhart’s methods for statistical process control helped operators skills.
determine whether variation was due to random or special causes. Quality 4.0 initiatives might help
2. Quality as design: Inspired by W. Edwards Deming’s recommendation you add intelligence to monitoring and
to cease dependence on inspection, more holistic methods emerged for managing operations, or enable remote
designing quality into processes to prevent quality problems before they monitoring to improve the productivity
occurred. or morale of your operators. Think about
3. Quality as empowerment: TQM and Six Sigma advocate a holistic how to add to human capabilities rather
approach to quality, making it everyone’s responsibility and empowering than how to replace people in your pro-
individuals to contribute to continuous improvement. cesses. According to Finnish sociologist
4. Quality as discovery: In an adaptive, intelligent environment, quality Esko Kilpi, “The real future of work is not
depends on how quickly we can discover and aggregate new data sources, in the industrial model of pursuit automa-
how effectively we can discover root causes and how well we can discover tion but in the post-industrial model of
new insights about ourselves, our products and our organizations. promoting augmentation.”4
Predictive maintenance can help
Quality 4.0 value propositions you anticipate equipment failures and
How can Quality 4.0 help your organization? Specifically, how can you proactively reduce downtime. Quality
improve the performance of your people, projects and products by imple- 4.0 initiatives can help you assess supply
menting enabling technologies such as AI, ML, robotic process automation chain risk on an ongoing basis, or help
and blockchain? you decide whether to take corrective
New technology always should be introduced with a clear articulation action. Quality 4.0 initiatives also can
of its desired benefits. A value proposition is a statement that explains help you improve cybersecurity: docu-
what benefits a product or activity will deliver and, sometimes, how it will menting and benchmarking processes
happen. Value propositions for Quality 4.0 initiatives fall into six categories, can help your organization detect
with No. 1 being the most significant: anomalies and understand expected
1. Augment (or improve upon) human intelligence. performance to more effectively flag
2. Increase the speed and quality of decision making. potential attacks.
The ecosystem of
neural network that incorporates layers with special functions.
AI and ML are becoming popular now because not only is the software
more accessible and easier to apply, but it’s also easier to access the big