Some eras are defined by specific moments in history, like the detonation of the first atomic bomb or the fall of the Berlin Wall. In other cases, revolutionary change can happen so gradually that its impact is only recognized in hindsight—for example, the term ‘industrial revolution’ was coined after the time period it describes.
This is what makes speculation about future revolutions so difficult. The terms ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ and ‘Industry 4.0’ have been floating around for a while now, but the timing of the revolution is still unclear.
Has it already happened?
Don Weisler, president and CEO of HP Inc., believes it’s happening right now. “The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us,” he said. “No sector of the global economy is undergoing more radical transformation that the US$12 trillion manufacturing market.”
HP and Deloitte Announce New Alliance
HP and Deloitte are aiming to accelerate this digital transformation by collaborating on the implementation of HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) 3D printing systems in large-scale manufacturing environments. We’re already seeing HP making serious headway in on-demand manufacturing, but this alliance could accelerate the adoption of MJF even further.
The alliance will combine HP’s additive solutions, tools and partner ecosystem with Deloitte’s global client reach, digital operations and supply chain experience. “Companies investing in digital reinvention are poised to outpace their peers,” said Weisler. “Building on our disruptive 3D printing technology, together with Deloitte we are focused on helping customers transform and win in this new era.”
Deloitte Global CEO Punit Renjen agrees on the disruptive impact of additive manufacturing: “The digitalization of global manufacturing operations and practices will impact companies and consumers around the world, and 3D printing will play an important role in fundamentally changing manufacturing as we know it.”
Bringing Two Global Ecosystems Together
HP’s 3D printing technology is already being used by such major players as BMW Group, Jabil, Johnson & Johnson and Nike, along with numerous manufacturing service bureaus in North America, Europe and Asia.
“3D printing empowers design freedom and product personalization while delivering a digital thread to transform supply chains and open the door for distributed manufacturing,” said John Dulchinos, VP of digital manufacturing at Jabil.
HP’s end-to-end manufacturing ecosystem includes engineering, software, enterprise and manufacturing workflow companies such as SAP, Siemens, Autodesk and Materialise, as well as members of its open 3D materials platform including Arkema, BASF, Evonik, Henkel, Lehmann & Voss and Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical Co.
Deloitte, for its part, has formed an ecosystem of digital collaborators that includes Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cloudera, Dassault Systèmes, Google Cloud, SAP and Siemens. The company will help these and other organizations make use of 3D printing technology in their supply chain networks.
The fact that Deloitte and HP share some of the same companies in their ecosystems makes this alliance a natural fit.
“This new alliance reinforces the longstanding relationships Siemens has built with HP and Deloitte, and creates greater opportunities to digitally transform the global manufacturing industry,” said Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO, Siemens PLM Software. “We see enormous potential in the next generation of product design, engineering, manufacturing and business innovations that elevate the voxel control and production-ready capabilities of HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology.”
For more information, visit the websites for Deloitte and HP.