Speed, the Double-edged Sword of the Industry 4.0

: The recent and ongoing digital transformation of the manufacturing world has led to numerous benefits, from higher quality products to increased productivity and reduced time to market. In this digital world, data has become a critical element in many essential decisions and processes within and across organizations. Data exchange is now a key process for the organizations’ communication, collaboration, and efficiency. Industry 4.0/Industry of the Future adoption of modern communication technologies has made data available and shareable at a speed faster than we can consume or track it. This speed is a double edge sword and comes with key challenges, such as data interoperability and data traceability, which manufacturers need to understand in order to adopt the best mitigation strategies. This paper is a summarized introduction to these challenges, their origins, and what they mean to manufacturers.