something About industrial 4.0

You may hear about industrial 4.0 every where
and you may already know 3D printing is part of the "4.0"
Incase you never hear about here is what from wikipedia 

just incase here is Wikipedia info.
Components of Industry 4.0 
“Industry 4.0” is an abstract and complex term consisting of many components when looking closely into our society and current digital trends. To understand how extensive these components are, here are some contributing digital technologies as examples:[24]

• Mobile devices
• Internet of Things (IoT) platforms
• Location detection technologies
• Advanced human-machine interfaces
• Authentication and fraud detection
• 3D printing
• Smart sensors
• Big data analytics and advanced algorithms
• Multilevel customer interaction and customer profiling
• Augmented reality/ wearables
• Fog, Edge and Cloud computing
• Data visualization and triggered "real-time" training

Mainly these technologies can be summarized into four major components, defining the term “Industry 4.0” or “smart factory”:[24]

• Cyber-physical systems
• IoT
• Cloud computing
• Cognitive computing

yeah there is alot of topic. Lets just talk about 3D printing
If you follow 4.0 news you must see this" 

3D PRINTING IS A BIG COMPONENT OF INDUSTRY 4.0

Advances in 3D printing are sweeping in significant changes. Changes that, if you don’t adapt, will leave you in their wake, struggling to keep up.
HERE’S SIX KEY AREAS WHERE 3D PRINTING WILL TOTALLY DISRUPT THE MANUFACTURING SPACE OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS:

1. True Rapid Prototyping. This capability is well established. Outdated and slower means of prototyping will leave the laggards in the dust, as other companies bring products to market, for a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time.
2. Rapid Design Iteration (A/B testing of physical products) Testing out designs on markets BEFORE committing to setting up production lines, will completely change traditional product development cycles over the next few years.
3. Low volume production. The cost, to commit to creating tooling or moulds, before a single end use part can be produced renders many a product impractical or unprofitable.
4. Mass Customization. Starbucks proved that with customization comes premium pricing. 3D printing is making this option viable for many manufactured products.
5. Virtual Inventory. Holding inventory is very expensive. Costs include the capital to produce the inventory, shrinkage, obsolescence, warehousing, insurance, tracking and distribution.
6. Product Innovation. 3D printing enables pre-assembled designs that were previously impractical or too costly to be realised. Technologies like AutoDesk’s DreamCatcher can automatically generate tens, hundreds, or even thousands of design options that meet all specified high-level goals. Dreamcatcher is a goal-directed design (GDD) system that enables designers to input specific design objectives, including functional requirements, material type, manufacturability, performance criteria, and cost restrictions. The infinite computing power of the cloud then takes over.

ok sound excited right ? 
Wait ! You may have idea to invest and try it to your industry, but not every 3D printer is suitable for you. at the end it may come out a waist.

last 5 years top 1 most comment question is "Can I 3D print this?" after the question they send me a picture.
can be photograph , or some product they have before. They do not have Computer Aided Design (CAD) file.
They have no idea about .STL(file format for 3D printing software)

I like to say if you need convert to Industrial 4.0 , it is not only hardware.
you cannot print a document without a digital copy. same as 3D printing.
and the process  may  more complicated then what you can imagine.

Equip people with Basic knowledge of CAD is one of the key of 3D printing.
Understand printing limitation is 2nd. 

alot of people buy a RM1000 toys 3Dprinter and thinker for few days after that collect dust forever. 
yeah maybe some of them can print some part for use But that is not how it work. That is not related to "4.0"

You may even have had a serious look at adopting 3D printer technology. Maybe even figured it won’t work for your business.
The challenge is, you don’t know what you don’t know. You know your world, but knowing what’s important and what questions to ask BEFORE you invest in 3D printing technology is critical.
The last thing you need is to make a big investment, only to find out that you ordered a 3D printer that is not suited to for your specific application.

THIS IS WHERE BOOKING A CONSULT WITH RAPID 3D WILL GET YOU OUT IN FRONT.

Here’s what you can expect...
We’ve been running a 3D printing bureau service for years. Seen all kinds of components come through our doors, from many different industries.
Our clients have expected us to make things work. To figure out the teething problems with this technology.
We know what machines are reliable, and which aren’t.
We know what materials work for each application, and which materials are still ‘experimental’.
We’ve seen which software works well for 3D printing and which doesn’t.
BOTTOM LINE: WE DRINK OUR OWN MEDICINE. WE ARE NOT JUST BOX MOVERS. WE’LL TELL YOU WHAT WILL WORK AND WHAT WON’T; EVEN IF THAT MEANS WE LOOSE A SALE.

• It’s a paid consultation. Do with the report what you choose. We are not going to try swing you around to our equipment brands or solutions if they are not a good fit. If using a competing product makes sense, we’ll say so.

GET YOUR HEAD WRAPPED AROUND THIS 3D PRINTING PHENONEMON ONCE AND FOR ALL – BOOK AN ON-SITE CONSULTATION WITH B3D We’ll come in, unpack YOUR unique business requirements. Give you, an understandable and useable report, that you can use to decide on a way forward with 3D printing technology.