Imagine you're looking for a new pair of pants. In all likelihood, you'll probably end up going into a shop and ordering a pair sized somewhere between S and XL. This reflects the state of industry at present: sizes have been standardized and reduced so as to fit within 4 variants from S to XL. Low unit costs are achieved through mass production.
Textile production in the world of Industry 4.0 may instead deliver customized individual pieces by taking advantage of efficient data processing. Once a customer decides on a model, their exact dimensions are determined via a machine vision system. This might take the form of a small changing room with a camera in each wall to take a picture of each side of the body. Software handles the measurements and the subsequence cutting pattern for production. The remainder of production runs automatically right up through shipping. Fashion houses of the future will thus no longer sell their services based around full shelves with huge offerings, but rather through a large virtual selection and quick, reliable production.
This is just one example of image processing and industrial cameras in Industry 4.0. Our Vision Campus article "The Future is Smart – Image Processing is an Important Component of Industry 4.0" provides additional examples and information about how industrial cameras are making futuristic production processes a reality today.
