NDE 4.0 Paradoxical Results of a Decade


In November 2011, the government and business of Germany approved the INDUSTRIE 4.0 strategic initiative aimed at developing industrial information technologies and establishing itself as a world leader in the field of industry, primarily mechanical engineering, as the basis of a modern economy.
Ten years have passed, it has already been forgotten that this is a national project of one specific country. The English-language "INDUSTRY 4.0" and the number 4.0 itself have become global brands. The need to integrate methods, technologies and equipment into smart distributed processes of design, production and maintenance of products has formed a new area of knowledge NDE 4.0 about physical methods and devices for detecting inhomogeneities in materials and products, as well as determining their geometric and physical and mechanical characteristics in order to quantify their structural integrity and compliance with the specified design parameters using the main technical ideas and principles of INDUSTRY 4.0 (including the unified principles of standardization and metrological support), which allow optimal integration of non-destructive testing devices and systems into the CPS structure and "smart industries" to ensure full automation of all production and management processes.

It has been ten years of research and development. The public and behind-the-scenes statements of the publication dedicated to this anniversary are not as enthusiastic as in the first years of the project's deployment. As it seems to the author, this is largely due to the lack of a correctly formulated strategy and unity of goals involved in the process of specialists from various industries and understanding of NDE 4.0 as an interdisciplinary scientific and technical direction aimed at building networks of connected intelligent sensors that form large systems built into the infrastructure of distributed "smart" enterprises / industries, the development of related engineering disciplines as the basis for ensuring the autonomous long-term functioning of these systems based on realistic models of NDT and CM tools built into robotic systems using deep / machine learning with the subsequent implementation of the principles of artificial intelligence in NDT and CM, taking into account trends INDUSTRY 4.0, as well as solving problems related to the transition from automated to automatic NDT within the full life cycle of complex technical systems.

In the report:
- analyzed the main tasks and forecasts in the field of development of methods, equipment and technologies of NDT and CM, as well as the training of specialists at time intervals of 5, 10 and 20 years, starting from 2012, their connection with the goals and objectives of the INDUSTRIE 4.0 initiative;
- slippages of NDE 4.0, connected, among other things, with similar problems of INDUSTRIE 4.0, were identified and justified;
- critically examined the paradox of "near-zero progress in efficiency in the field of NDE 4.0 practice, which seems close to the" Salou paradox ";
- in relation to NDE 4.0, a hypothesis is stated about the need for a significant time lag (delay) between the moment of development and widespread introduction of new planetary digital technologies and the appearance of large-scale breakthrough results;
- the need for a comprehensive consideration of the NDE 4.0 and INDUSTRIE 4.0 factors is shown, related to the fact that new technologies make it possible to change production methods with embedded NDT and CM technologies, mechanisms for distributing and consuming the created values, but do not directly affect economic results;
- the reasons for the considered paradoxes are systematized, including the fact that the digitalization of inefficient processes and technologies only leads to inefficient digital processes, including in NDT and CM.
