The Industry 4.0 concept made its debut in 2011 at the renowned Hannover Messe, the world's largest industrial fair. As the steam engine, electricity and computers once did, this time digitization was at the center of a continuous cycle of innovation that transformed both the world of production and the IT landscape. 

The notion of a production development powered by new technologies - Cloud Computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Artificial Intelligence - points to the generation of fully integrated value chains, in the that the processes, the supply of materials and the distribution are optimized. The idea is that the efficiency achieved makes production more profitable and gives companies flexibility and competitiveness.

An inherent effect of these technologically integrated value chains is that a huge volume of data is generated every second that must be processed in real time. In that landscape, the quality of the data is as important as the products themselves. Which implies a historical challenge for the industry and for information technologies. Without flexible and scalable IT infrastructures, meeting the challenges of Industry 4.0 is not conceivable.

For new technologies to fulfill the promise of transforming the industry, it is necessary to have a network infrastructure capable of supporting its operation.

A key bet 

A network failure causes annoyance to the average user, and can cause anything from the interruption of a video call or the pause of a streaming movie to defeat in an online game, but in an industrial environment, a network failure can have a catastrophic impact on productivity.

That is why fiber optic communications networks are in the ideal position to be the backbone of Industry 4.0, as they are the physical medium that offers the best benefits: data moves by light pulses, which makes the network is much faster. Likewise, they do not generate electromagnetic noise and, although they are very thin, flexible and light cables, which occupy much less space than copper cable, fiber-supported networks are robust and safe.

The commitment to optical infrastructure is especially visible in Ethernet networks, where the trend to bring fiber not only to productive sectors but also "to the desktop" has become widespread.

It is also what has led industry giants to redouble their investments in fiber. Just this month, KPN, one of the leaders in the European market, announced that it plans to invest more than 4,000 million dollars in its fiber optic network in the next three years. 

This trend can only increase as the world moves forward and the deployment of 5G networks will cause an explosion in the number of connected devices and the number of antennas needed for the mobile network.

Japanese electrical and electronic equipment company Furukawa offers network infrastructure solutions specially designed to withstand the critical conditions of an industrial environment.

The connectors, boxes, adapters, patch cords, optical cords and pre-connected cables (ready to install) of the Furukawa IoT for Industry System solution have the IP67  degree of protection that certifies resistance to the ingress of dust, water jets and even temporary immersion.

In recent years, Latin America has seen investment in fiber in fixed connections grow, especially in homes. The industry has a lot to gain from being the engine of broadband infrastructure growth that, in the end, can only benefit it.

About Furukawa Electric LatAm 

Belonging to the Japanese group Furukawa Electric, it is a manufacturer of complete solutions for Communication and Energy network infrastructure, with four industrial units in Brazil. The company also owns optical cable factories in Berazategui Argentina, Palmira in Colombia and Mexicali in Mexico and has authorized distributors and system integrators in EMEA and SEA region.