Rather than being a distant and possibly unattainable goal, the technologies are already available for the tire industry to deliver the Industry 4.0 concept of manufacturing and supply.But there remains major barriers to achieving the degree of automation and seamless integration required to even approach the goal of autonomous production to a theoretical batch size of one.The foremost challenge concerns the flow of data needed to deliver Industry 4.0.This would require levels of collaboration between tire makers and their suppliers of equipment and materials well beyond anything previously seen.While the required levels of integration”will not be easy,”Harm Voortman, president & CEO of VMI, points to the strengthening business case for companies to start to do so-especially given all the uncertainties facing the industry.
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