On Tuesday, representatives of Hannover Messe, along with dignitaries that included the Indian ambassador to Germany, Vijay Gokhale, gave a sneak peak of this year’s Hannover Fair, the world’s largest industrial trade show, scheduled for April 13-17 in Hannover, Germany. The preview, held in Berlin, included more than 40 exhibitors, many of them in the automation sector.
Dr. Jochen Koeckler, member of the board, Deutsche Messe AG, Hannover (pictured at right), told the crowd that Industry 4.0 would be the core theme of Hannover. Koeckler said that a recent survey of manufacturers indicated that fully 50% of the companies have never even heard of the concept of Industry 4.0. More disturbing yet, only 25% feel they are ready for it and a mere 25% have any idea of how much it will change things in the coming years.
There’s reason to be excited for Internet 4.0, sometimes referred to as the Internet of Things or Big Data. Experts predict an 18% increase in efficiency over the next 5 years for manufacturers due to the new connected factory–in addition to a 14% cost savings over the same time period. Koeckler said this will be the main factor in manufacturing productivity in the coming years.
Gokhale was on hand, as India is this year’s official partner country for the exhibition, the first time the country has been so since 2006. He explained to the press that India wants to position itself better and become the manufacturing hub of South Asia. He also said that the current government leadership is committed to becoming one of 50 countries in which it is easiest to do business in–a huge change from historical trends.
Hannover Fair will have five core themes for this year’s show: Industrial automation and IT; Energy and environmental engineering; industrial subcontract in and production engineering; power transmission and control; and research and development.
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