Autor: Thorsten Pötter

In process engineering, one thinks of production operations that are controlled or regulated by sensors and actuators. And any realization of matter transformation is based on a physical substratum, which holds equally for living systems and their behaviour. The article distinguishes between three system levels: the functional level, the interface to the environment and the cognitive level of. Using these three levels, the learning cycle or the previous Cognitive Loop can be very well illustrated. If one compares with this way of distinction the Bio-Informatization of human intelligence with the technical development stages of mechanization, automation, regulation and deep learning, then the cybernetic-sociological term “operational closure” becomes understandable. It becomes obvious that in the context of a digitized culture of production and organization, we should be prepared for a new kind of cognitive loop based on silicon (SI), an intelligent system behavior via ...

The story behind “Industry 4.0” has a much bigger scope as it is talked about, according to the authors particularly in the management of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). For this reason the paper on one hand lists the essential prerequisites for Industry 4.0, on the other hand it describes the features of the “Digitalisation” which make the upcoming move revolutionary. A consequent digitalisation of processes in organisations in terms of automation takes away people’s effort for decision-making as well as semi-autonomous, networked artificial intelligence (AI) does. This facilitates and irritates participants of organisation equally. The digital transformation will have consequences for production and organisation therefore, i.e. this change will influence technology and corporate culture.