The biggest transformation for mankind has been the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century. Jump up 200 years to the 21st Century and we have surpassed generations of technology and have entered an era we now know as “Industry 4.0”.
It’s the era of automation and manufacturing processes are now controlled by machines themselves unlike the manual intervention in earlier times. IIoT is categorically a sub-domain of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Industrial IoT is the integration of industrial equipment and heavy-duty manufacturing machines with computers and smartphones to provide Industrial Automation Solutions. The benefits of implementing Industrial IoT for manufacturing processes are vast and the evolving automation industry is now dependent on it more than ever.
Predictive Maintenance with Industrial IoT
IoT devices generate large amounts of data. Cisco, which does a pretty decent job of analysing such things, estimated that by the year 2020, we will be producing 14.1 zettabytes of data. That is an extremely massive amount.
Industrial IoT with the integration of Machine Learning and Big Data, analyses the huge amounts of data produced by the interconnected machines, constantly interacting with each other. Industrial Automation Solutions then generate efficient models for subsequent maintenance sessions.
Downtime costs manufacturing industries millions of dollars on an average. Predictive maintenance significantly reduce downtime losses and not just saves money, but also saves the most valuable time.
Efficient Asset Management
An efficient asset management system is a predominant application of Industrial IoT. Spread across various sectors, it can be used to assess the value proposition of each functioning asset of the company. Most importantly, it will prevent over utilisation and under utilisation of an asset along with monitoring its location, lifetime value, and their overall worth. Another study by Cisco shows that in the next ten years, most companies will be leveraging Industrial Automation Solutions to harness over 25% of profits with effective asset management. Industrial IoT brings specificity for each manufacturing type to ensure the most efficient asset management.
Remote Control and Diagnosis
The fundamentals of IoT were developed for the purpose of remote controlling and diagnosis with minimal human intervention at the physical end. Most processes can be controlled at a central server end.
Smart Industrial Automation Solutions along with predictive maintenance help in initiating diagnosis and repair solutions remotely from the software end. It also lets you manage the automated supply chain processes with just your smartphone.
Industrial IoT also helps analyse the working conditions of your warehouse and adjust elements like temperature, vibrations, and many more parameters required for optimal functioning of the procedure.
The industrial era we live in will have become completely automated with Industrial IoT by the year 2020 and is expected to touch the 3 trillion USD mark as predicted by the authoritative NASSCOM.
Companies have leveraged the powerful implementation of IIoT in not just manufacturing firms but in every sector of the market. This smart paradigm shift has resulted in better safety, efficient production and significant cost-reduction.