Industry 4.0: The New Industrial Revolution: Computer Science & IT Book Chapter

Unlike the previous three industrial revolutions (18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries), the 4th will be more decentralized, automated, and controlled interdependently (Qin, Liu, & Grosvenor, 2016). In the first industrial revolution, the factory achieved production primarily through machines powered by water and steam and heavy manpower. In the second, operations became slightly more complexed through machines powered by electricity supported by mass production and division of labour. The third industrial revolution ushered in the use of electronics and information technology, adding more complexity to the production process in making it more automated (Brettel, Friederichsen, Keller, & Rosenberg, 2014; Wolfgang, 2016). Undoubtedly, these three industrial revolutions would have impacted their countries' economies.