What is the Industrial Internet?

 

A GE advertisement on TV recently got my attention; it used the tag line “Brilliant Machines Change the Way We Work”.  Since the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s people have been developing and implementing new technologies that change the way we work.

The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes that occurred in the period from about 1760 to some time between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power and development of machine tools. The transition also included the change from wood and other bio-fuels to coal. The Industrial revolution began in Britain and within a few decades spread to Western Europe and the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution

Now we are in a new type of revolution.  In a keynote speech “Minds + Machines 2012” given by GE Chairman Jeff Immelt discussed how the Internet will also transform global industries, joining human insight with machine intelligence. Bringing minds and machines together has created something wholly new – the Industrial Internet – an open, global network that connects machines, people, and data.

http://www.ge.com/mindsandmachines?gclid=CNyj4oC-yLUCFQXpnAode3kAPg

Is this Industrial Internet real?  Is it just an advertizing theme developed by GE?  I believe that in fact the Internet is another leap in the ever movement forward of innovation and technology and that it is changing the way we work!

So what does this Industrial Internet mean to us as employees and business owners or want-to-be employees or business owners?   Remember the old cliché – preparation to meet opportunity?  Seneca, a first-century Roman philosopher, allegedly said, "Luck is where the crossroads of opportunity and preparation meet."  I think that we should prepare ourselves through education, training, and employment to take personal advantage of this Industrial Internet.

This is a link to GE’s presentation of images of the Industrial Internet :

https://www.google.com/search?q=industrial+internet&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=RpsmUZ7ILMOG2gWfsYGgAg&sqi=2&ved=0CFQQsAQ&biw=986&bih=565

Please share your thinking about this Industrial Internet by posting a comment or emailing me at glynjordan@gmail.com.

 

Thanks, Glyn