Industry 4.0: Cloud Native Observability for Manufacturers
Cloud-native observability is a key to Industry 4.0 success, enabling real-time insights, agile decisions, and optimal cloud usage.
Gregg Ostrowski from Cisco AppDynamics explores how cloud-native observability empowers Industry 4.0. Discover its pivotal role in driving efficiency, innovation, and informed investments for manufacturers.
As the popularity of smart factories grows, Industry 4.0 is a term that has become widespread in the manufacturing industry. The fourth industrial revolution is here, and manufacturers understand the benefits that moving from partial to fully automated factories can bring. There is an opportunity for more business agility, streamlined operations, and increased innovation speed in the pharmaceuticals, electronics, automotive, and aerospace industries. There is a reason why the move to smart factories is expected to grow by 20.6 percent year on year for the next three years, reaching more than $165 billion by 2026. As Industry 4.0 initiatives continue to take shape, it is also important to note how vital the supply chain is to have all product manufacturing components.
And while the benefits are clear, this Industry 4.0 shift is incredibly complex and comes with many challenges. At a foundational level, some manufacturers are still trying to figure out how the concept can be applied to their operations. On the other hand, some manufacturers need help integrating new technologies alongside legacy equipment. Additionally, the pandemic drove heavy investment in digital transformation efforts, but organizations must take a much more selective approach to investment decisions, given the current economic climate.
Despite these challenges, Industry 4.0 initiatives will continue. And what is the key to success in the manufacturing industry and justifying the investment? The answer is data derived from cloud native observability.
Cloud Native Technologies Lead Industry 4.0 Transformation
Technologies that assist and enable Industry 4.0, like artificial intelligence, IoT, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), are evolving fast and affect many facets of an organization, such as waste reduction, logistics and compliance monitoring, and pre-production testing. Today, much of this transformation relies on the broad adoption of cloud native technologies, as migrating to the cloud has enabled organizations with the foundation and capacity needed to scale their Industry 4.0 initiatives.
Modern application architectures, built on technologies such as microservices and Kubernetes, enable manufacturers to dramatically increase the speed of innovation while delivering greater operational efficiencies. As a result, manufacturers can also reduce operating costs. To support the acceleration of this transformation, ultimately leading to more dynamic applications, IT departments are leaning on cloud native and low-code and no-code platforms in their transformation programs.
Cloud-native technologies provide organizations with enough computing power and the ability to scale it to take advantage of Industry 4.0 capabilities fully. This also equips organizations with the flexibility to adjust their initiatives based on changes in business demands. In addition to the expanded power and storage capacity, cloud native supports a more collaborative Industry 4.0 by capturing a more centralized view of operations.
Visibility Brings Innovation
While cloud native technologies are crucial for Industry 4.0 transformations, the shift can create new challenges for the IT teams who manage and optimize the performance of new applications. The core issue is the need for more visibility into public cloud environments, making it harder for technologists to monitor application performance effectively. If an issue occurred, it would be tough for technologists to get to the root cause of the problem, given the distributed and dynamic nature of cloud-native applications.
Microservices Kubernetes and other cloud native technologies utilize thousands of containers, contributing to a higher volume output of metrics, events, logs, and traces (MELT) daily. And it is no surprise many IT departments do not have the tools or resources to weed through these massive data sets. A recent report found that 65 percent of technologists feel overwhelmed by the sheer growth in data noise, which is only exacerbated by the lack of visibility across a complex and fragmented IT environment.
You can imagine the issues that arise without full visibility into cloud-native environments. The possibility of performance issues going unnoticed until it is too late increases significantly, which could lead to applications failing and ultimately have detrimental effects on end users and the business. Likewise, organizations can be more susceptible to security threats, putting private end-user or business data at risk. With data and insights, connecting IT performance with business outcomes is nearly possible, making it easier to justify and validate Industry 4.0 investments.
See More: Why Smart Manufacturing Needs Smarter Cybersecurity
Business Value of Industry 4.0 Relies on Cloud Native Observability
To gain visibility and get those critical business insights, manufacturers need to implement a modern cloud native observability solution. A crucial component that cannot be overstated is manufacturers’ ability to monitor business transactions across their entire IT landscape. Likewise, suppose they detect any complications with the health of their transactions. In that case, manufacturers must address the issue’s root using telemetry data and quickly address the problem. With cloud native observability, IT teams can monitor the performance of applications across multi-cloud and hybrid environments and are enabled to identify and troubleshoot issues faster.
For IT leaders looking to justify their Industry 4.0 investments, the ability to produce business transaction insights in real-time is crucial. Observability also provides IT teams with business insights based on the performance data, helping them to prioritize better and proactively address problems within the IT stack. With this data, technologists can be more agile and better informed to make investments and decisions based on what will have the greatest ROI for the business at large.
Overall, it is essential to remember that, like with most transformations, Industry 4.0 is a journey. The more business insights IT teams have across the full cloud-native application stack, the smoother and more successful that journey will be. Further, if a company is considering migrating to the cloud or expanding its current capacity to support Industry 4.0 initiatives, cloud native observability can be a powerful tool for identifying the right-size cloud infrastructure and gathering insights on utilization to optimize usage.
How can cloud-native observability empower your manufacturing process? Let us know on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
Image Source: Shutterstock
MORE ON INDUSTRY 4.0
