The Industrial Revolution and engineering are actually supporting each other. First due to engineering machines that came into the world and then industries. Regular advancement in engineering and technology actually boosted the growth of industries (Singh 2018).

 

The first Industrial Revolution took place from 1750 to 1850 in Western Europe. It was crucial for the inventions of spinning and weaving machines operated by water power. The second phase of the first Industrial Revolution, symbolized by the advent of electricity and mass production, was driven by many disciplines of engineering. The first phase of the second Industrial Revolution was based on steel, electricity, and heavy engineering from 1875. The second phase of the second Industrial Revolution was based on oil, automobile, and mass production, taking place between 1900 and 1950 and onward. The third Industrial Revolution started with the invention of the transistor, which largely accelerated the development of electronics. Electronics was and still is so significant to modern industry that electrical and electronics engineers today outnumber colleagues in any other engineering discipline. Since the early 1970s, the dominant business has been the age of information and communications technology (ICT), the second phase of the third Industrial Revolution.

 

The likely first phase of the fourth Industrial Revolution, based on sustainable “green” engineering and technology, is seen to have begun around 2000. Today, artificial intelligence (AI), if cared for, can level-up society into the fourth Industrial Revolution. With extensive automation and computational capability, this disruptive technology is blurring the lines between the digital, physical, and biological divides. Figure 1.4 outlines the predicted timelines of the Industrial Revolution.