Industry 4.0

News:A Pilot Project for ushering in ‘Industry 4.0’ in the railways has been launched at the Modern Coach Factory (MCF), Raebareli.

Facts:

About the project:

• The pilot project would be undertaken under the aegis of “Technology Mission for Indian Railways(TMIR). 
• It would be implemented by a consortium of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Science & Technology. 
• The project would be implemented on an investment sharing model for taking up identified railway projects for applied research and use on Indian Railways for advancement and modernization. 

Additional information:

Industry 4.0:

• The fourth Industrial Revolution describes the present technological age ongoing in 21st century that has come up since the first such revolution took place in the 18th century.
• It is a name given to the current trend of automation, inter-connectivity and data exchange in manufacturing technologies to increase productivity.
• The 4th industrial revolution includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, big data analytics, cloud computing, cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, 3-D printing, and autonomous vehicles among others.

India and 4th industrial revolution:

• India has become the fourth country in the world where World Economic Forum has opened its centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution. 
• Hence,India is preparing for a massive digital and technological transformation.
• The centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution works as a network that includes USA, China and Japan. 
• The centre would be based in Maharashtra and it has selected drones, artificial intelligence and blockchain as the first three project areas.
• NITI Aayog will coordinate the partnership on behalf of the government and the work of the centre among multiple ministries.