The manufacturing industry is currently undergoing a burgeoning digital transformation globally. The new age information technologies and operational technologies are transforming facilities into more innovative, faster, and more scalable units. From maintenance, supply chain operations, industrial asset tracking, process optimization, human resource management to barring none of the activities, IIoT solutions are bringing about the rapid transition through continuous improvement. Industrial Internet of Things has opened a plethora of opportunities for businesses to use the valuable real-time data for their win! IIoT empowers personnel at all levels to detect problems and inefficiencies beforehand. This data-driven decision-making takes the guesswork out from solving problems and optimizes operations, resulting in cost reduction, enhanced visibility, better facility management, etc.

 

The Competitive Edge of Implementing IIoT

 

In an effort to uncover new ways of strengthening manufacturing processes, businesses worldwide are resorting to digital transformation led by IIoT. The recent industry trends are headed towards becoming digitalized, focusing on becoming service-centric over product-centric, and adopting cybersecurity measures. Precisely, this is where IIoT for manufacturing comes into play.

An executive summary by Forbes Insights mentions that “Digital transformation sits atop the strategic agenda for enterprises, according to a Forbes Insights and Hitachi survey of 573 top executives worldwide. The next two years are critical in this regard, as half of them believe that their organizations will be vastly digitally transformed in that time.”

However, early adopters are already leveraging Industrial Internet of Things solutions and witnessing drastic positive change in overall plant and business efficiency, as emphasized by Bsquare in its annual IIoT maturity survey. It reports that 86% of manufacturers have already adopted IIoT solutions, and 84% of them find IIoT extremely effective.

 

IIoT Adoption in Manufacturing Units

 

For successful adoption and implementation of IIoT in manufacturing, the four pillar IIoT components need to be incorporated as stated below:

1. Intelligent asset: The primary role of these assets is to enable connectivity and sustain continuous data gathering for analytics. Sensors, edge devices, IoT gateways, embedded systems, and other built-in-intelligent equipment form the foundation for intelligent assets.

 

2. Data Communication Infrastructure: Data Communication between these assets and other entities requires network technologies such as LTE, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi. However, often IIoT systems are deployed via cloud-based computing infrastructure to maintain extensive data requirements.

 

3. Software/Application: To equip factory personnel with an easy, reliable, and flexible interface to interact with IIoT systems and interpret gathered data, software, or applications plays a significant role.

 

4. Human Resource: The operators or managers involved in interacting with the IIoT system, monitoring performance, and making decisions, create the impeccable part of the successful adoption of IIoT. Therefore, personnel training and selection shouldn’t be overlooked while adopting Industrial IoT solutions.

 

Significant Advantages and Influence of IIoT

 

1. Enhanced Industrial Machinery/Equipment Utilization: Ensuring each equipment and machine in the industrial setup is utilized up to an optimum level and is in good health might seem a herculean task when done manually. But, with Industrial IoT based machine/equipment management, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and overall process effectiveness (OPE) can be easily measured and maintained at each manufacturing stage. It will result in lesser downtime, and increased output.

 

2. Just in Time Manufacturing: Real-time data reporting makes Just in Time manufacturing possible. Having up-to-date and prompt information allows manufacturers to make crucial economic, process, and quality decisions that affect the entire production line and end-product. Operations can be adjusted via live data to eliminate waste and ensure that production is finished in time to coincide with raw materials availability and planned timelines.

 

3. Market Forecast: A manufacturing facility must implement the required steps to prepare for any impact on products/services. For this purpose, IIoT solutions enable effective data mining and help generate actionable insights from it. Data from all over the enterprise provides visibility into manufacturing management, operational quality management, product and customer preferences, inventory, costs, output patterns, etc. This predictive analytics enables the optimization of businesses for overall success.

 

4. Inter-connecting Remote Assets: Connecting devices means that data from remote assets are now accessible from a central location. This gives more remote control over what’s going on at/in the plant. For example, one can check in on inventory and make changes to pricing or stock when necessary, based on data collected from what’s happening on-site. It facilitates the process of monitoring and securing assets. This equates to greater control over remote resources located in disparate areas, making them easier to oversee from afar.

Some other benefits of IIoT implementation involve reducing lead time, optimizing factory management, industrial process monitoring, enhancing the quality of products, etc. IIoT based solution is potent and can create significant operational, financial, and managerial benefits.

 

Use Cases: How Are Industries Leveraging The Power of IIoT?

 

From maintenance, monitoring, process optimization, asset tracking, or any industry-specific task, IIoT based solutions can help streamline and manage the overall operations/activities. Below are some of the frequent and essential use cases of IIoT;

1. Condition-Based Maintenance: A key feature of an IIoT solution is the use of real-time data collected from the various sensors and actuators within a manufacturing plant. By streaming this data over the internet and analyzing it, operators/ maintenance engineers can develop detailed usage and status reports about equipment. This kind of information can tell precisely how assets and machinery are being used to assist in planning future ventures and improve efficiency within the company’s overall assets, thus improving the lifespan of machines.

 

2. Enhancing Quality and Assisting in Inspection: The importance of quality inspection cannot be denied when it comes to manufacturing. It gives operators/engineers an upper hand in catching defects early before they become a big problem and allowing them to be resolved before they interrupt the further process. IIoT solutions incorporate IIoT devices such as machine vision cameras, scales, calipers, and temperature/humidity sensors connected with intelligent sensors to increase precision in the inspection process.

Apart from the above-mentioned Industrial Internet of Things use cases, the objectives achievable through IIoT solutions are limitless. These solutions focus on industry-specific needs and hold immense potential in data gathering, monitoring, and analyzing as per requirement—for instance, vibration monitoring for milling machines, condition monitoring of fluid cooling systems, etc.

 

Accelerate Your Business with IIoT

 

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Industrial IoT exposes a business to innumerable growth opportunities, aids in quality management, and maximizes profits. However, every business is unique, so the implementation and adoption of IIoT solutions differ to ensure that all the efforts are made to drive innovation in the most impactful areas of the business.

If you are a business looking to elevate your manufacturing unit, our experienced engineers at ENWPS can help you! From IIoT, automation solutions to professional design and engineering services, our engineers possess rich experience in various industry verticals to help businesses achieve newer heights.

Overview: Industrial IoT

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the new wave of technology innovation impacting the way manufacturing facilities function. The IIoT, using sensors, advanced analytics, and intelligent decision-making, profoundly transforms how field assets connect and communicate within the enterprise. Moreover, deploying Industrial IoT solutions is more than integrating devices into the network. It is about how managers/operators use that network to make the business work better –achieving higher production efficiency, becoming more predictive, and more capable of delivering on customers’ expectations.

In the ambit of cut-throat competition, businesses are constantly looking for opportunities to outperform their rivals; therefore, embracing new technology like IIoT becomes inevitable. Companies are also experiencing enormous financial and production efficiency advantages by implementing Industrial IoT solutions, leading to its widespread adoption. The global forecast suggests that the market size of the Industrial IoT (IIoT) market will be worth $263.4 billion by 2027 from $76.7 billion in 2021.

 

Compelling Benefits of IIoT

The Industrial Internet of Things technology possesses the immense potential to efficiently streamline processes, cut down on costs, reduce downtime, increase productivity, and lead to an efficient workplace. Moreover, the possibility of IIoT to gather real-time data, convert them into actionable insights, automate and optimize operations, anticipate scenarios, etc., results in unrivaled gains. Below we have explained some key benefits of IIoT.

 

• Production flow monitoring

Production flow monitoring is a vital part of industrial process management as it directly impacts an enterprise’s cost and quality goals. By automating the optimization and efficiency tracking process of production lines and machines through IIoT technology, businesses can identify and reduce bottlenecks to an optimum level as it’s essential to check performance at every stage. By doing so, engineers can track the quality of parts being manufactured and reduce overhead costs of scrapping and rework.

 

• Enhanced operational effectiveness

Cloud computing, edge devices, big data and analytics, etc., are improving the operational intelligence of industries, allowing them to enhance overall effectiveness. From equipment monitoring to predictive maintenance, product quality checks, software-driven systems, supply chain management, gathering real-time plant efficiency KPIs, decentralization of decision making, etc. IIoT solutions empowers industries to garner optimal outcomes in the lowest possible time.

 

• Increased flexibility and agility

With the ever-growing demands of consumers and changing market trends, it is quintessential for companies to adapt to technology changes as quickly as possible. In a global survey of around 1300 CEOs, 59% of the respondents claimed that “acting with agility is the new currency of business; if we’re too slow, we will be bankrupt.” Industrial IoT solutions and technology provide businesses the opportunity to respond to these changes by allowing customization, ease of reprogramming, and cutting costs of reconfiguration every time a new project initiates.

 

• Improved safety compliance

Industrial IoT solutions result in a more connected, optimized, automated, and risk-free working environment in industries leading to reduced exposure of humans to hazard-prone situations. In most cases, operators feed data/instructions to the machines and remotely monitor the entire process, eliminating the need to be physically present at the manufacturing setup. Besides, using smart sensors, variables like temperature, smoke, vibrations, etc., are controlled and reviewed continuously, and if any failure occurs, the system triggers an alert/alarm.

 

Industrial Applications of IIoT 

To help understand how businesses are transforming the benefits of IIoT for their win, below, we have gathered some consistently used industrial applications of IIoT. However, unique fusions of Industrial IoT solutions need to be incorporated according to industry-specific requirements and organizational goals to gain optimal results.

 

• Condition-based maintenance

When combining IIoT devices with manufacturing equipment, the benefits are endless. Equipment like sensors can record temperature, pressure, speed, materials used for manufacturing, check on problematic operating conditions, etc. Further, through data analytics, factory managers can access real-time information regarding the status of machines, increase operational efficiency, and reduce downtime due to inadequate machine maintenance. It also aids facility management as managers will be aware of how staff are using equipment or performing in specific environments that could be detrimental to products’ health—ultimately maintaining product quality.

 

• Predictive maintenance (PdM)

When maintenance in the manufacturing world lacks innovation, it can become a reaction rather than a proactive measure. In this case, manufacturers are left trying to identify the problem and resolve it while simultaneously using internal resources to identify existing solutions. But if this isn’t working, they might have to spend money on an external source to do something about it. With predictive maintenance powered by Industrial IoT solutions, manufacturers will be able to reduce the occurrence of such a problem because each equipment and machine are continuously monitored accordingly. Even before any problems occur, they will be able to take the necessary steps to prevent them from happening. E.g., drone technology is being used by many manufacturers to detect malfunctions in powerline networks. These drones are equipped with atmospheric sensors and equipment that can monitor the status of power-conducting lines, assess risk, anticipate issues, measure voltage fluctuation, and more! It allows avoiding costly maintenance or repair.

 

• Fleet management

Transportation/shipping costs can be significantly minimized or controlled by using a fleet management system as part of a company’s business model. By deploying software-driven Industrial IoT solutions, businesses can accurately record each vehicle’s/vessesl’s daily commute, transfer, maintenance, and replacement history. This way, companies can streamline their vehicle investment and track shipments while increasing productivity and ensuring on-time deliveries.

 

• Preventing supply chain errors

IoT applications are great for tracking events across the supply chain. They reduce the chances of errors during inventory management and check production flow by better understanding a company’s daily performance. Moreover, by deploying a software-based approach, users receive notifications of essential changes in the overarching plan and updates. It results in enhanced visibility and decision-making based on data and helps manufacturers predict potential issues that may go unnoticed.

 

• Energy management

Industrial processes often use plenty of energy, so even minor improvements in energy management can help industrial companies save a lot of money and improve their environmental performance – and that’s precisely where Industrial IoT solutions come in. IIoT devices like smart sensors are a great way to keep track of electricity and power usage throughout the facility. Managers can use this information to determine the energy usage of every equipment/machinery of their system, allowing them to make appropriate changes as per requirements. This improved visibility can help companies boost revenue by using energy more efficiently and identifying areas where renewable energy can be added.

To know more about IIoT, read blog: Explained: Everything that Businesses Need to know about Industrial Internet of Things.

 

Wrapping it up       

IIoT is here to stay and will change the world of manufacturing. It’s creating a better tomorrow with smart technology and integration. The world is at the cusp of the most significant industrial revolution ever, driven by the convergence of information and operations. IIoT is bringing in the next wave of industrial automation to help businesses achieve new milestones and reach higher performance levels. IIoT is the future of smart factories and smart manufacturing.

 

Let’s elevate your enterprise!

The field of IIoT is vast, and it’s important to create a robust strategy for implementation to gain the most out of it. However, it also involves huge investment and with this comes greater risk. Therefore, it’s important to consider all the factors and involve ROI metrics while drafting IIoT implementation strategy, to get better results. At ENWPS, we understand the criticality of IIoT transformation and hence provide reliable IIoT solutions backed with rigorous analysis and technology expertise.

Need quick assistance? Get in touch at: rfq@enwps.com.

For quite a time, the Industrial Internet of Things has been a trending topic among businesses and tech enthusiasts on the web. Many ground-breaking developments are happening in the Industrial Internet of Things sphere. The IIoT allows industrial assets to be monitored and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems. It improves operational efficiency, accuracy, and economic benefit and reduces human intervention. This blog brings to light all the information businesses need to know about developments and potential gains of the Industrial Internet of Things.

 

What is IIoT- Industrial Internet of things?

 

The Industrial Internet of Things is a revolutionary technology connecting people, processes, and products to accelerate the digital transformation of facilities. IIoT is the collection of sensors, instruments, and autonomous devices connected through the Internet and automated to industrial applications. It forms an industrial framework in which all the equipment and machines are interconnected and synchronized through big data/analytics, cloud computing, mobile devices, and software tools to collect, monitor, exchange, analyze, and operate on data to leverage potential. The IIoT technology has strengthened and reformed machine-to-machine communication to create a more agile, scalable, error-free, and optimized factory environment.

 

IIoT technology and How it Works?

 

The Industrial Internet of things is a massive network of connected devices that forms a system for managing and sharing data within an industrial setup.  The uniqueness of the Industrial Internet of Things lies in the intersection of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), which is transforming industries into intelligent systems. OT encompasses networking of all the manufacturing processes and equipment through industrial control systems (ICSs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed control systems (DCSs), and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). At the same time, IT consists of smart connected devices containing computing capabilities. These devices sense, aggregate, communicate and convert data into actionable insights through the application of big data/analytics and wireless networks. These insights help factory managers and operators to optimize shop floor operations.

 

Unlock Potential Benefits of Implementing IIoT

 

With the advent of intelligent IIoT devices and IIoT technology, monitoring and tracking the smallest devices to the complex processes has become a reality. It has enabled businesses to make better decisions and streamline the entire process to enhance enterprise efficiency. IIoT solutions eliminate operational discrepancies by making informed predictions about possible breakdowns and bottlenecks in the equipment or system, further empowering organizations to elevate business performance.

Below are some of the most rewarding benefits of IIoT that businesses can capitalize on to achieve maximum operational efficiency.

 

1. Predictive maintenance and reduced machine downtime

Logbooks are an efficient way of maintaining machines for specific tasks such as changing the oil and cleaning out mechanics.  But what happens if a machine or device suddenly breaks? A study by Aberdeen says that unscheduled downtime could cost companies as much as $260,000 per hour. With the help of IIoT devices and solutions, the possibility of sudden breakdowns is eradicated as it tracks any anomalies or uncommon equipment behavior before they hamper the production processes. IIoT enabled predictive maintenance incorporates keeping a close check on historical machine performance to predict potential machine downtime.

 

2. Efficient management of supply chain and improved visibility

Suppliers, manufacturers, and customers can use management systems to control complex supply chains by getting updates about the availability of raw materials, tracking manufacturing cycles, tracing location while shipment, etc. This way, they can better determine if there’s been an issue with inventory or a potential situation that could damage their products. By incorporating IIoT technology or software-based tracking, instant visibility can be achieved, allowing everyone involved to react immediately or accordingly, depending on the nature of the problem at hand. Moreover, it will also aid in meeting client expectations and making on-time delivery of goods.

 

3. Asset tracking and optimization

By applying the IIoT solutions for a connected asset ecosystem and advanced solutions to monitor/visualize these assets, a range of new possibilities opens up, and enterprises can gain enormous benefits. Logistics, warehousing, production, transportation, in-house machines and equipment tracking, managing staff roles and operations, etc., can be managed and effectively controlled by applying IIoT technology. It will result in effective planning and scheduling, optimum utilization of assets, improved workflow, and bridging the gap between ground-level operations and executive departments.

 

4. Enhanced quality control

Quality control professionals understand that it is much better to identify a potential issue early than to discover it at a later stage of production. By deploying IIoT solutions, continuous stepwise tracking of manufacturing processes is accomplished, resulting in improved quality of products, reduced wastage of raw materials, and eliminating rework and scrapping. Moreover, with the help of data collection, future processes can be optimized accordingly for enhancing quality standards.

 

5. Improved safety and work environment

IIoT can improve safety and make the industry environment more compliant in manufacturing plants. IIoT solutions like automated alert systems and sensors monitor energy consumption, temperature, moisture, and excessive pressure levels preventing potential catastrophic events like fires or explosions. They also monitor the proximity of workers to large machinery for the same reason – making manufacturing plants safer for staff.

 

Why do Businesses can’t Afford to Ignore IIoT?

 

The manufacturing world is constantly transforming by the lightning-fast data flows that can produce a wealth of information about products, their use over time and are paving the way for better optimization of processes. IIoT solutions are helping businesses gain insights to enhance scalability, performance and eventually create robust systems with the highest operational efficiency. More than a necessity, IIoT solutions have become a way of doing business if willing to maintain a competitive edge.

 

McKinsey estimates that the economic impact of IoT could be as much as $6.2 trillion by 2025. And possess the potential to drive productivity across $36 trillion in operating costs across multiple industries, including manufacturing and other sectors.

 

Moreover, worldwide, GE thinks a 1% improvement in industrial productivity could add $10 trillion to $15 trillion to worldwide GDP over the next 15 years.- Chunka Mui, Forbes.

 

Industrial Applications of IIoT that Businesses are Already Leveraging

 

One real-world industrial application of IIoT inspiration can be derived from an industrial automation leader, ABB, making effective use of IIoT technology to monitor and maintain its robots. By incorporating connected sensors and edge devices, the maintenance engineers conduct repair and maintenance tasks well in advance to ensure smooth production workflows and reduce risks of downtime or costs of breakdowns.

 

Another instance is from Rolls-Royce: Pioneering Cutting-Edge Technologies, ingeniously leveraging IIoT technology for the future of engine maintenance. It is working on a revolutionizing technology, swarm robots. These mini-robots are around 10mm in diameter, with cameras deployed, and can crawl through the engines for visual inspection. It will aid engineers with predictive maintenance and visual inspection of an engine without removing it from the aircraft.

 

Various companies are testing and developing next-generation technologies for transforming their enterprises into automated, intelligent, and interconnected systems.

 

Future Potential of IIoT

 

The Industrial Internet of Things will play a significant role in enabling digital transformations in the future. Big data analytics will evolve to detect conditions in real-time and respond quickly. Likewise, production lines and supply chains will be full-fledged digitized for greater efficiency and throughput. Industrial operations may use thousands of 5G connected devices in the future. Moreover, 5G will affect the implementation of IIoT solutions, likely resulting in device proliferation. 5G’s higher bandwidth and lower latency frequencies make IIoT devices ideal for being used in remote sites while it was previously impractical because of the lack of a high-speed connection. In upcoming times, more businesses will use 5G connectivity as running a cable is cost-prohibitive in various cases, but with 5G wireless technology, getting rid of those cables becomes a feasible option. Connectivity, agility, scalability, less human intervention, optimization for zero defects, better decision-making capabilities, analyzing historical data for process optimization, etc., will be the critical drivers of deploying IIoT solutions.

 

IIoT and Security Challenges

 

There are several aspects that organizations need to consider when embracing IIoT implementation. IIoT brings many benefits to businesses today, but it also has cyber security risks. A survey by tech analyst Gartner found that security is one of the most significant areas of technical concern for organizations deploying IoT systems – primarily because they don’t have complete control of the software and hardware being used. Companies need to understand what these risks are, how to prevent them, and how to minimize the damage if a security breach does occur. Deploying measures for secure communication between machines, including security monitoring and analysis systems for preventing cyberattacks, data encryption, safe execution environments, validation and authentication between sensors, gateways, and the software orchestration platform, can be implemented to address security challenges.

 

Elevate Your Business with IIoT Solutions

 

ENWPS has the knowledge, skills, and standards-based expertise needed to offer a wide range of connected equipment along with mobile solutions. Using Plantminder and enabling mobile devices of this software allows the FSEs to collect and process data on location.  Faster troubleshooting, data analysis for new product developments, efficient equipment maintenance, process optimization, etc. Regardless of what goals your organization wishes to achieve, ENWPS can make that happen by providing IIoT solutions and design & engineering services.

 

Upscale with expert support. Get in touch at: rfq@enwps.com!

Industry 4.0 is drastically transforming the shop floors, production systems, business models, supply chains, and all the associated operations. The industry 4.0 manufacturing integration is leading the way towards better visualization of industrial network, hyper flexibility in production management, intelligent tracking of processes and supply chains, self-optimization, enhanced adaptability, etc. This upsurge in manufacturing and management capabilities is turning out to be extremely rewarding concerning monetary gains and end-quality of the product. Industry 4.0 sets up a collaborative environment between physical systems and humans to establish smart business operations to sustain growth and resilience to unprecedented circumstances.

 

To help understand the potent of industry 4.0 automation more precisely, below we have gathered some invaluable benefits of execution.

 

Industry 4.0: Potential Benefits of Implementation

 

1. Strategic Competitive Advantage: Factory automation makes it easier to widen your product and service offerings, bringing in new possibilities for your business to escalate. The industry 4.0 automation manufacturing tools and processes provide greater flexibility of operations, lower operating costs with the use of automation and robotics, and foster better customer relationships through optimum product quality. By strategically utilizing industry automation, organizations can garner incomparable outcomes.

 

2. Organizational Performance: The industry 4.0 solutions used for factory automation generates a conducive environment for powerful organizational transformation. Functional proficiency, better utilization of assets, enhanced use of factory data, digitalization of production systems, strengthened connectivity between equipment and systems, reduced risk of errors, automated restructuring of procedures, and improved worker safety, etc. are some of the crucial aspects positively impacting the organizational performance of the enterprises.

 

3. Decreased Costs and Higher Gains: Industry 4.0 manufacturing reduces costs involved in day-to-day operations, resulting in boosted profits. The use of automation technologies helps increase product accuracy, reduces lead times, decreases labor costs, enhances labor productivity etc., resulting in decreased costs. Industry automation allows continuous monitoring and process regulation of huge production lines by reducing the risks of failures, cycle-times, equipment breakdown expenses, etc. With higher sustainability of assets and real-time surveillance, a substantial amount of costs can be saved.

 

4. Enhanced Quality of Products: Industrial automation technology and tools can detect quality errors at every step of production and are equipped with automated resolving capabilities. The collaborative use of robotics applications, automation tools, cobots, sensors, IIoT-empowered quality enhancement, etc. ascertains optimum product quality.

 

5. Opportunities for Innovation: The surplus amount of data generated and processed through industry 4.0 automation tools, fuels opportunities for product and process innovations. Based on historical and current data, the connected devices predict process improvement areas and their impact. Moreover, with digital twin technology, simulation, and AR/VR, new product development can be initiated without manual prototyping. The interoperability of assessing real-time data, that industry 4.0 provides is the principal advantage of industry 4.0 automation to create growth opportunities.

 

Industry 4.0: Challenges and Solutions 

 

With greater benefits, come greater challenges. Industry 4.0 automation brings along some underlying risks that come into view during and after the transformation process. An article by Industry Week states, 2 of 3 companies piloting digital manufacturing solutions fail to move into the large-scale rollout. Hence, it’s important to pay attention to those obstructions, evaluate their consequences, and deploy solutions before they hinder the functionality of the enterprise.

 

With close analysis and understanding of implementing factory automation, we have listed down potential challenges and solutions to overcome them.

 

1. Workforce Preparedness: Industry 4.0 automation encompasses a collaborative approach between humans and machines, significantly changing the working environment. Operators and technicians will require training and assistance in developing the technical know-how of industry automation. Hence, while selecting an industry 4.0 implementation partner, always check for their training and documentation service offerings.

 

2. Cybersecurity: With increased connectivity of equipment, large-scale exchange of data, virtualization of servers, and expansion of interconnected networks, cybersecurity concerns have gained momentum among businesses. To address this challenge, advanced security models need to be included while executing industry automation.

 

3. Functional Disruptions: In the period of transformation from traditional setup to factory automation, the functioning of the industrial process undergoes major changes and might come to a pause for some time. Henceforth, it’s quintessential to have a strategic plan ready well before carrying out industrial automation. Besides, businesses should also consider the timelines provided by the vendor for enforcement of the entire process. This will help create a structured and concrete plan to overcome functional disruptions.

 

4. High Investment Cost: While higher investment costs are some of the major issues pertaining among the decision-makers, with an effective transformation model in place, the investment costs can be recovered in a specific duration. As industry automation solutions enhance scalability, agility, and resiliency to meet changing work environments, there are higher chances that the benefits will exceed investment costs in a certain period.

 

5. Revisiting Business Models: Factory automation with industry 4.0 brings about fundamental changes in the way businesses work. From business models to pre-defined working strategies, to the functioning of entire systems and processes, the factory transformation creates a multifaceted impact. Therefore, it’s inevitable to reexamine and create a concrete framework for the business model as the automation transformation takes place.

 

Understanding the Future Scope of Industry 4.0

 

Industry 4.0 automation has turned out extremely rewarding in terms of financial aspects and quality of products, despite higher investment costs. For instance, take the case of Siemens’ PLC manufacturing plant in Amberg, Germany, where it has taken digitalization to the point by automating the production of its automation systems. The result is a reported 99.99885 percent perfect production quality rate—an impressive one given the plant produces around 12 million Simatic PLCs each year (Source). The smart factory and industry 4.0 manufacturing are setting up a benchmark for businesses to escalate their overall plant efficiency and achieve performance excellence. Moreover, industrial wireless communication, cybersecurity, remote monitoring, and customization will be the primary focus among businesses that are under the transformation stage.

 

Factory automation in the future will elevate the level of potency as industry 4.0 technologies will operate alongside humans, supporting them to best leverage smart machines and advanced technologies. Moreover, automation and robotics applications will continue to accelerate in industries as they lay a foundation for industry 4.0 technologies to operate. Regardless of what new technologies emerge in the coming years, automation and robotics will hold an inevitable position in years to come.

 

If your business hasn’t incorporated automation and robotics yet, then it’s high time you embrace this technology!

 

How ENWPS can help you succeed?

 

ENWPS can help business transform their factories to adopt and fully embrace industry 4.0 automation. Our turnkey solutions include,

 

1. Design and engineering
2. Supply, Installation, and Commissioning
3. PLC, HMI, and SCADA Programming
4. Robot Programming
5. Data Analytics
6. IoT Implementation
7. Allied Services

With over 20 years of experience in providing automation and robotics solutions, we have developed an extensive understanding of industry ecosystems to guide businesses for the successful integration of advanced technologies.

Our experts are just an email away. Get in touch at: rfq@enwps.com!

Introduction to Smart Factory

 

With the advent of the industrial internet of things (IIoT), digitization, automation robotics, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and the concept of interconnectivity in the manufacturing ecosystem, facilities are gradually transforming into smart factories. A Smart facility combines production processes and operations with a digital network of connected devices and machinery. It goes beyond simply automating the production processes. At a broader level, it maximizes the performance of the enterprise by extending the capabilities of machines to respond in real-time to meet changing conditions in the facility and demands of the consumers without human intervention. The smart factory/plant technology enables flexibility in the manufacturing system allowing evidence-based optimization of the processes, assembling real-time data, and providing control of the overall system to independently run production processes.

 

Smart Factory Technology

 

Smart factories accumulate a variety of equipment and devices to streamline and optimize manufacturing processes. The interactions and combinations of diverse smart factory technologies contribute to the transformation of a factory into an intelligent workplace. Below are some key technical requirements of a smart factory setup.

 

1. Industrial Sensors: They are interlinked to industrial machines, devices, and processes for allowing the exchange of information between machines and humans for optimizing shop floor operations. Various types of sensors are deployed according to the required output. For instance: temperature sensors, pressure sensors, level sensors, proximity sensors, optical sensors, etc., each one has distinct utility in the industrial setup.

 

2. Cellular 5G/LTE: The modern industrial cellular networks are the substitution to wired Ethernet traditionally used in industries. It allows operators and factory managers to communicate with ease inside the factory premises and from distant locations outside the factory. Cellular 5G/LTE offers mobility, ease of use, reliability, higher bandwidth, and low latency, ensuring smooth machine-to-machine and machine-to-human communication for unleashing the true potential of the industrial assets.

 

Related Blog: Digital Transformation Will Drive IoT and 5G development

 

3. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT): It is one of the key components in a smart factory that includes a combination of various information and operations technology devices to collect valuable data, analyze it, exchange across machines and operators, and improvise it for generating higher output.

 

4. Cloud Computing: Cloud computing is demand-based accessibility of system resources, databases, servers, process information, and all relevant data from shop floor devices to make real-time, data-driven decisions and alterations in the manufacturing process. It also aids in the collection of information about supply chains, logistics, delivery services, and other operations in the industry.

 

5. Data Analytics: The sheer amount of data generated by industrial systems and processes can help in innumerable ways. Detection of error patterns, spotting underperforming systems, insights about the production process, improving and controlling quality based on historical data, predictive maintenance analysis, etc. all can be monitored and optimized with help of data analytics.

 

Characteristics of a Smart Factory

 

For any factory to be transformed into a smart factory, the following attributes of smart factory technology need to be addressed and included.

 

1. Interconnectivity: The prerequisite of a smart factory is to connect all the machines, devices, systems, and processes to produce real-time data that can be used for decision making.

 

2. Optimization: A optimized factory is self-sufficient in making decisions about the ongoing operations to enhance operational efficiency with minimal human intervention.

 

3. Proactiveness: The ability to anticipate and act before the actual problem arises and hampers the system efficiency is associated with the proactiveness of a manufacturing unit. It not only increases uptime but significantly impacts the accuracy, quality, and costs involved.

 

4. Transparency: From real-time data visualization to transforming them into actionable insights, defines the transparency of an industrial unit. It allows operators and managers to view real-time machine/system performance, take steps to improvise, and accelerate progress.

 

5. Nimbleness: Scalable industry layout, adaptability to changes in a working environment, deviations in production schedules, the introduction of new products, etc. with minimum manual assistance is one of the key features of smart factory automation.

 

Why do industries need to shift towards Smart Factory?

 

The market analysis states, the Global Smart Factory Market was valued at USD 270.74 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach USD 422.88 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of approximately 9.33% during the forecast period (2021-2026). The underlying reason is, smart manufacturing can amplify the output while significantly reducing the production costs. Below, we have gathered key reasons to help you gauge the benefits smart factories offer.

 

1. Machine-Driven Data: Gone were the days when operators had to manually create a tabular sheet for gathering all production data and checking production efficiency. Inventory management, asset tracking, delivery planning, and all other managerial tasks were conducted manually. Today, with help of business intelligence tools, the unstructured data is collected and processed into lucid formats for better data visualization and powerful analysis. It allows manufacturers to make better decisions for optimizing the facility’s performance.

 

2. Productivity Enhancement: Any industry irrespective of size, constantly looks for opportunities to increase the gross profit margins and reduce operational costs. Smart factories provide complete visibility of assets through interconnected systems, provide smart insights, spots bottlenecks in the process if any, reduce wastage, and self-optimize for improved process efficiency.

 

3. Production Flexibility: It refers to adaptability, agility, and improved responsiveness of the manufacturing setup to administer product enhancement and consumer demands. With the rise of breakthrough technologies, like integrated production management systems, factories are becoming more intelligent allowing the highest level of manufacturing flexibility and customization of the products.

 

4. Benefits of Digital Transformation: The usefulness of deploying smart manufacturing solutions includes improved production scheduling, product development, quality control, logistics management, planning machine maintenance, keeping a track of machine downtime, increasing uptime, and strengthening overall plant productiveness.

 

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Smart manufacturing heavily relies on the digitization and connectivity of the industry ecosystem. It provides greater accessibility of data to make intelligent moves, ultimately adding up to the performance capability and profit gains of the business. The solutions that smart factory technologies offer have become indispensable for modern manufacturers if they wish to remain competitive and satisfy modern customer demands. At ENWPS, our team of qualified engineers possesses the required knowledge and expertise to help you upscale to smart manufacturing. Our services encompass supply, installation, and commissioning of the various equipment required for optimizing manufacturing processes.

 

Elevate your business with expert assistance! Shoot an email at: rfq@enwps.com!