At the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are two critical words you will see in almost every article and write-up where Industry 4.0 is mentioned. Those two words are “digital” and “smart,” and they represent a complete shift in enablement and employee productivity in the modern manufacturing world.

Access to people, facilities, equipment, lines, logistics, and capacity are now a must to stay efficient and competitive. The days of massive unproductive labor cost, overtime, and underutilized manufacturing lines are gone, along with many of the companies that refuse to adapt with the times—just look at the shift in the Fortune 500 over the past decade.

 …