The Smart Factory IQ Test

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Let's see how prepared you are to talk about Industry 4.0. The following 12-question test will measure how much you know about smart factory concepts and philosophies^[1]. Since the concept of a smart factory is larger than the electronics manufacturing industry and encompasses the entire supply chain, the terms and concepts here are also more global in nature.

Questions

1. To realize the digital supply network needed for smart factories, manufacturers must:

a. Introduce horizontal integration through multiple organizational systems
b. Implement vertical integration through manufacturing
c. Integrate throughout the entire value chain
d. All of the above

2. True or False: A smart factory implementation relies on shop floor automation exclusively.

3. True or False: The ability to adjust to and learn from data in real time can make the smart factory more responsive, proactive, and predictive, and enables the organization to avoid operational downtime and other productivity challenges.

4. In a proactive smart factory system, employees and systems can anticipate and act before issues arise, rather than reacting to them after they occur. Which feature is NOT a factor in delivering a proactive smart factory system:

a. Identifying anomalies, restocking, and replenishing

b. Destructive process testing

c. Predictively addressing quality issues

d. Monitoring safety and maintenance concerns

5. True or False: AI, cognitive computing, and machine learning have made it possible for smart factories to override human operator decisions on the shop floor.

6. Which of the following factors makes this the right time for smart factory implementations?

a. Manufacturing has grown increasingly global, fragmenting production and spreading it across multiple geographies

b. Smart, digital technologies have ushered in a new set of competitors who leverage the digitization to enter new markets

c. IT is beginning to take data from automation and turn it into insight and action

d. Skilled talent shortages are forcing manufacturers to mitigate risk and reconfigure staffing to do more with fewer staff

e. A and C

f. B and D

g. All of the above

7. Undertaking a smart factory journey can address a number of business practices. Which is NOT one of those practices:

a. Asset efficiency

b. Sustainability

c. Improved company picnics

d. Better profitability

e. Labor force stability

8. True or False: Smart factory automation achieves agile operation with off-the-shelf automation and control systems industry-wide.

9. Industry 4.0 includes which of the following digital and physical technologies:

a. Analytics

b. Web browsers

c. Robotics

d. High-performance computing

e. Augmented reality

f. AI and cognitive technologies

g. Buggy whips

h. Advanced materials

10. True or False: Organizational change management will be a simple, matter-of-fact affair since smart factories will result in a net loss of manufacturing jobs.

11. True or False: Cybersecurity becomes a greater concern precisely because a smart factory is highly connected.

12. True or False: The most effective way to implement a smart factory is to start with a greenfield ground-up/build-out.

This quiz is published in the March 2019 issue of PCB007 Magazine. To find out the answers to the questions, click here.