"Is my organisation ready for the fourth industrial revolution?" A majority response is likely to be negative.

As the global media industrial represented by over 100 journalists gathered at E-Werk, Berlin late in the morning of February 3, 2015, around 40 companies had already put an impressive display in an adjacent hall offering a sneak preview of what will be on offer at Hannover Messe 2015, which is scheduled for April 13-17, 2015. E-Werk used to be a techno music club in Berlin, housed in a former electrical substation. Located near Checkpoint Charlie, the once influential club has since been converted into an all-purpose venue. The building lies in a heritage-protected area and is considered the oldest surviving architectural remnant of Germany's electricity industry.

'Integrated Industry - Join the Network!' is the lead theme of Hannover Messe this year, and the buzz is all about the rapidly unfurling standard of Industrie 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, which is in due course expected to take manufacturing towards a fully networked industrial future. The icing on the cake however is the fact that India is the Partner Country at what is described as the world's most important Industry Trade Show.

"Is my organisation ready for the fourth industrial revolution? That's the big question that CEOs and plant managers are currently asking themselves," remarked Dr Jochen K?ckler, Member of the Managing Board at Deutsche Messe, during his presentation on the overview, trends and topics at Hannover this year.

The answer to this is unlikely to be a simple yes or no, as the concept is still evolving. Just a couple of years ago, in February 2013 to be precise, Prof Manfred Broy, a computer scientist with specialisation in software and system engineering at of Munich Technical University, had compared the space shuttle with a modern car while delivering the keynote at that year's Preview event. When the programme was decommissioned, the space shuttle had 50-70 million lines of code, whereas a high-end car today has 100 million lines of code, taking over many functions from the human hands! Then last year, Prof. Dr-Ing Detlef Zuehlke, Scientific Director, Innovative Factory Systems (IFS) at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence, had further elaborated how Industrie 4.0 envisages a smart factory much like the Lego blocks assembly style, and machines will become Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). But all said and done, according to a recent survey, 50% of those engaged in manufacturing have not even heard of Industrie 4.0. Around 25% have just heard of it, without full understanding. Which means only 25% have an idea about the concept and its importance.

Another study, 'Industrie 4.0 - Opportunities and Challenges of the Industrial Internet', by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), based on a survey of 235 German industrial companies, indicates the rising trend of investing in Industrial Internet applications. The study concludes that an 18% increase in efficiency and 15% savings in cost savings will be possible in the near future with the flexibility and productivity enabled by Industrie 4.0, the main factor being competitiveness in manufacturing. Industries in Europe, USA and Asia will by then become dependent on Industrie 4.0.

According to Dr K?ckler, Industrie 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution, will bring major change to energy systems and industrial production models. The main features of the integrated networking, which will be on display at Hannover Messe this year, would be centred on:

• Smart factory - in factories, there will be a shift away from mass production, as customers increasingly demand customised products - albeit at the same low prices they currently enjoy for mass-produced goods. 
• Smart Grid - energy grids will need to become smarter so that they can optimally balance and deploy available power, gas and heat capacity from a wide range of sources. 
• Human-Robot collaboration - whereby next generation robots will be seen as human partners
• Additive Manufacturing - with 3D printers churning out individualised products and components).

These technologies and themes will be explored in even greater depth in the 1,000-plus supporting forums and guided tours on offer at the fair.

Integrated Industry is about enabling machines and workpieces to communicate with one another. This, in turn, will allow entire production lines to autonomously and dynamically re-configure themselves, thereby rendering small-batch and one-off production in large-scale plants commercially viable. Dr K?ckler further stated: "Industry is in the early stages of a revolution known as Industrie 4.0. It's a phenomenon that has skyrocketed to the top of the agenda in industrial thinking over the past two years. Meanwhile, there is an enormous information vacuum, and most companies still don't know what they need to do in order to be ready for Industrie 4.0. What they need to do, of course, is form close networks with all stakeholders involved in their production processes. Hannover Messe 2015, with its lead theme of 'Integrated Industry - Join the Network!', will show them how."

The key challenges of the fourth industrial revolution - such as achieving universal standards for machine-to-machine communication, maintaining data security and finding new business models - can be mastered only through collective endeavour in networks. This requires effective dialogue and cooperation between the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and IT sectors. The enormous potential that all sectors of industry can unleash through this sort of integration will be on show at Hannover Messe 2015. As

Dr K?ckler concluded: "Germany's industrial firms have come a long way with their Industrie 4.0 research over the past two years and are now ready to put their findings into practice." At Hannover Messe on Tuesday, 14 April 2015, Germany's economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel will outline the nation's industrial plans and call for cross-border collaboration in the presence of some 250 invited guests from Germany, other parts of Europe, the USA and Asia.

Now, if one returns to the rhetorical question posed at the beginning "Is my organisation ready for the fourth industrial revolution," the answer is more than likely to be: "Yes!"

(with inputs from Hannover Messe)