Buzzwords in industry are everywhere you look: Smart manufacturing, industry 4.0, smart factory, AI, ML, VR and the list goes on and on.
Let’s review a term we hear regularly and can be confusing. We’re talking about IIoT. IIoT stands for “Industrial Internet of Things.” It’s related to IoT that we hear about regularly in our personal lives.
So what is an IoT example?
Consider the smart watch and how it accumulates data from sensing. These sensors provide accurate and customized reporting that allow real time decisions to be made. Not sleeping enough, time to stand and get moving are all common alerts driven from an IoT wearable device. Take this same level of thinking, apply it in an industrial environment and imagine the possibilities.
To help visualize how this works is to consider the basic data pyramid.
Data is the foundation in which information, knowledge and ultimately wisdom are built. The first three layers of the pyramid are looking in the rearview to ultimately get to wisdom for future decisions. IIoT lives at the foundational level of “data” and this is where the boom is happening. Industrial devices are becoming more and more connected which leads organizations further up the pyramid to making better decisions.
Gains in efficiency is the future for companies that embrace IIoT and apply it correctly. Look thru the world from an experienced process engineers’ point of view. They understand the process and can determine the best possible scenarios for efficiency when given meaningful data. The weak point is that not all the data they need to make accurate decisions is available. Technology is evolving rapidly however, and parameters needed for these decisions are becoming accessible. With impactful data increasing the process engineer can accurately predict future outcomes which drive efficiency, quality and ultimately revenue for manufacturers.
Finding a use case is a great way to start with IIoT.
Simple items like understanding the temperature or humidity level of a room could be critical to manufacturing. Start with a problem such as that and research what technologies are available to address it directly. Work the solution all the way thru with a goal of reaching the top of the pyramid by providing wisdom on how to act based off data, information and knowledge accumulated thru the process.
Once you win advocates with small IIoT successes keep solving problems by working the pyramid. What data do you need to learn and understand to make the ultimate decision that leads to improvement? Its and exciting time to be in industry and as IIoT continues to expand on the plant floor EECO is prepared to support your efforts with our team of experts determined to be advocates in your journey.
