Within the framework of the Herrenhäuser Forum "Politics - Economy - Society", the VolkswagenStiftung had invited the interested public to the Herrenhäuser Schloss to attend the industry 4.0 event. In the first keynote speech, PZH scientist Marc-André Dittrich outlined the history of the industrial revolutions, the emergence of the term "Industry 4.0" and the state of engineering research on the subject. Professor Peter Lütge, business ethicist at the Technical University of Munich, then gave a short lecture on some aspects of the social consequences, for example with regard to security, infrastructure and employment.
The following discussion was also attended by Professor Kerstin Jürgens, Chairwoman of the Expert Commission "Work of the Future", and Professor Jens Schröter, Media Scientist at the University of Bonn. NDR info presenter Ulrike Heckmann was particularly interested in the question of whether or how industry 4.0 and a potential job reduction are related and who is driving the current developments.
Dittrich made it clear that Industry 4.0 no longer means automation, as is often assumed - but networking. And that it is currently a matter of creating new products and services with the help of this network. He disagreed with the assumption that Industry 4.0 had the ultimate goal of abolishing jobs. He argues that the market''s needs - above all the extreme increase in the number of variants - call for a more flexible production process and that it is they who are driving industry 4.0 developments forward.
The summary of the interview is available as a NDR-Info-Podcast.
