4th Industrial revolution: The future of machining

The Industrial Revolution was a period of changes in agriculture, textile and metal manufacturing, transportation and socio-economy of England. The changes promote the revolution in a way of advanced techniques and practices such as in agriculture, which resulted in an increased of raw materials and food. For example, an old practice in plantation was to allow the land to rest after the cultivation activities. However, it was discovered that the fertility of the soil can be restored by the cultivation of clover and other legumes. As a result, the yearly yields is improved that leads to the increased of food for sustaining the livestock through winter. Furthermore, the adaptation of new technology agriculture organization, drastically change the production volumes, efficiency as well as profits. The world is changing and the 4th Industrial Revolution is now, directly or indirectly will affect us. People and machines are connected to each other with a huge number of engineering applications. The arrival of the 4th Industrial Revolution indicated that companies and industries must adapt with the new technology or face the struggle or failure at worst. However, with the recent technology, people can be better at their jobs rather than worrying that the human skills will be devalued. As for example, the machining process of Electrical Discharge Machining system, a skill and focus operators are still needed due to the nature of the machining parameters selection. Various advanced control systems have been reported but failed to obtain optimum machining performance. Software and technology as imposed by the 4th Industrial Revolution have the potential to empower operators to a far greater degree than in the past by unlocking the latent creativity through experience, perception and imagination for betterment of product. In addition, the industry will always need workers' brilliance, ingenuity and skills on the front line and in the field work for making smarter decision, solve tougher problems and perform their jobs successfully.