The manufacturing industry is, for the most part, ripe for transformation. Technology is innovating swiftly and that also applies to the technology that is used to manufacture products and goods in our daily lives.

Manufacturing set-ups are progressively using smart equipment, but the volume of data generated by automation systems are making it a challenge for traditional manufacturing systems which were not designed for this.

The major change that the manufacturing industry is coming into contact with right now is the Internet of Things (IoT). The first industrial revolution was powered by steam power and today IoT-centric solutions are driving the fourth industrial revolution.

This ‘smart' term is getting around quite a bit. Smart technology programs symbolise the latest innovations required for manufacturers to modernise and enhance work-flow. With the manufacturing sector making up only 15 percent of overall GDP, there is a need for India to overcome its challenges to keep up pace with countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

The Narendra Modi government is hoping to boost manufacturing's share of India's overall GDP to 25 percent, however, to do so, it must rethink right from how factories are run and products are created, to how machines are operated and serviced.

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