Manufacturing Revolution?
The growing effects of IoT on process automation and industrial industries is resulting in a manufacturing revolution that’s recently been coined as IIOT or “Industry 4.0”. The technological advancement of these industries due to new digital solutions via IoT is being observed in all sorts of business operations; changes to the supply chain, distribution methods, logistics analysis, customer service, and communications are just some of the processes being forever altered by the implementation of IoT technology.
Interconnectivity and Industry
Communicating through Internet data, the Internet of Things has created a world of inputs and outputs. The connections made between digital, audio, video, and analog systems by IoT solutions have applications in all sorts of industries where sensing, analyzing, and controlling data is a part of daily operations. IoT solutions connect industrial operations technology to traditional IT systems creating a digital to physical interface which can streamline industrial and manufacturing processes. What’s the point of implementing technologies in these corresponding industries? Such implementation can result in revolutionary levels of efficiency and optimization. Industrial automation has always adapted to new commercial technologies and the application of IoT is the next step in creating high-performance business systems. Ideally, industry expenditures due to labor, software, and hardware will even be reduced by the implementation of IoT concepts.
Advances in Automation
Returning to industrial automation, IoT will have an immense impact on the facility which is most emblematic of this process – the factory. The potential to create smart factories saturated with IoT technologies is currently being investigated on a global scale by tech strategists. Optimistically, every element constitutive of the factory will be controlled by an IoT network which would connect sensors, actuators, and machines via web servers. Such ideas are already being adopted to some degree in commercial factories across the world and accordingly, new levels of resource efficiency, ergonomics, and adaptability are being reached.
For the Developing Economy
The application of IoT and smart technology within developing economies should also be considered. The newly raised manufacturing centers of a developing economy are not yoked to levels of technology and facilities which face obsolescence – this is to say that developing economies will have less problems retrofitting their equipment, thus, creating an advantageous opportunity for accelerated economic growth. New technological applications in smart factories, whether in developing economies or established ones, offer solutions to various difficulties that have long been associated with manufacturing.
Problem Solving
Problems related to asset management are one such example of issues being taken on by IoT. All data concerning assets and processes can be analyzed through an insightful process that would lead to the operators making more informed decisions. The continuous rendering of data to the cloud through devices connected to IoT makes such processes possible and consequently leads to control and process optimizations for the manufacturer. The ways in which IoT incorporates machine learning into its network also seems capable of solving problems associated with automation technology and machine communication. These are improvements that can advance levels of sustainability, supply chain efficiency, and quality control. The budding introduction of mixed-reality technology also means that innovative levels of information and instruction can be provided to technicians in real-time. Imagine an employee outfitted with a heads-up-display that can overlay his reality and provide diagnostics alongside similarly crucial data. The potential result? A more informed and efficient individual operating with ease.
Revolution Revisited
Despite these promising characteristics, some find the coinage of IIOT or “Industry 4.0” to be a trendy catch-all describing the processes of increased automation, connectivity, and efficiency in industrial settings that have been progressively emerging over the past few decades. Still, if one considers the level of technological acceleration which mounts with each year, perhaps we are truly about to encounter a contemporary industrial revolution.
To learn more about the advantages that IIoT can offer to the world of manufacturing and your own business (whatever your industry) then contact us at Evolution Data.
