Recently, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) brought out its flagship Industrial Development report on Industrialization in the digital age. The report provides key insights on the development, application and implementation of Advanced Digital Production (ADP) technologies, now commonly referred to as Industry 4,0 technologies – from the perspective of developing countries.

Of these, India is the single lower-to-middle-income nation that has been categorized with a group of secondary economies well-poised for a complete digital transformation by successfully leveraging these technologies.

UNIDO has also presented factual evidence to support the claim that Industry 4.0 can facilitate an inclusive and sustainable mode of industrial development. ADP-enabled product and market innovations offer superior productivity, quality, market-responsiveness and client customization. Furthermore, factories can benefit immensely from improved monitoring and predictive maintenance, enabling them to save energy and function economically.

In today’s changing world, where we’re headed towards complete digitization, there is likely to be fewer jobs on the shop floor, yet more opportunities in knowledge-intensive areas and functions that are needed to leverage Industry 4.0 technologies.

E-Learning has facilitated new modes of skill-development that were previously not possible, for leveraging new technologies. Today, you are presented with the opportunity to cover several aspects of Industry 4.0 at once, covering different subjects within its scope and across different levels of study – all with the flexibility of self-study. In short, you learn more efficiently when you learn at a pace that you find comfortable.

A great advantage of E-Learning is its facility to synthesize the classroom and online mode of study into a single concept known as ‘Blended Learning’. With successful blended learning in place, you get to reap the benefits of self-study without compromising on the rigour of face-to-face, interactive learning.

An employee of an organization may choose to narrow his focus and specialise in specific areas with the objective of aligning his study with the larger goals of the organization; by enabling this process and even making it an integral part of employee-training, the latter takes a positive leap forward with regard to bridging the gaps in Industry 4.0 implementation.

MTC is your trusted e-learning partner for advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) – we are committed to facilitating industry-relevant training for institutions and enterprises, offering end users an interactive E-Learning platform.

As thought-leaders in modern factory technologies, we bring you a range of essential course material that will help empower your employees to equip themselves with the skills to handle today’s dynamic technological environment.

One excellent way to make productive use of time is to upskill ourselves. This is especially true for students and personnel connected to engineering and manufacturing domains. Why?

First, because colleges and manufacturing plants have been heavily hit by lockdowns, meaning a lot of time available. But second, and more importantly, because technology has evolved very rapidly in recent years in manufacturing, making it increasingly difficult for colleges and companies to train students and personnel fast enough to keep up with the pace of change.

What better time than now for companies and colleges to impart such training to build a competitive advantage and emerge stronger from the current lockdown!

Fortunately, today there is a whole lot of e-learning content available to cater to this need. Unfortunately, a lot of it falls short when it comes to real-world industry knowledge. It is very important that you identify the right source of learning content to maximise the knowledge you gain.

First, identify the technologies that you believe are most relevant to your field of interest – some of the increasingly popular and widely applied technologies include CNC, Robotics, Mechatronics, Automation and so on.

Second, when you identify possible providers of courses on these technologies, assess their technology background, tie-ups with major technology providers, and their training track record before choosing them for your own training or signing up for your manufacturing company or institution.

Signing up for online training is like signing up for a gym membership – it takes commitment and discipline to make the most of your upskilling plans!

So set aside time each day, put aside potential distractions, and dive in – after all, these are advanced and complex technologies we are talking about – half your attention simply won’t do justice to the subject matter.

But once you apply yourself and hit your stride, the sky is the limit – this truly is a way to create an opportunity out of a challenging situation!

At MTC, we are dedicated to industry-relevant training for enterprises and institutions, offering users access to over 30 courses with rich digital content on Robotics, AMT, CNCs, Mechatronics, and Smart Factory Automation.

As experts in modern factory technologies, we bring you essential course material that will help empower you, your employees or your students to deal with today’s dynamic technological environment.