10 Jun IIoT: Enabling Your Factory via Digitisation
IoT (Internet of Things) is about connecting ‘physical things’ to the cloud. By physical, we mean a device, machine or system. IoT allows objects to be sensed or controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems and results in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit in addition to reduced human intervention. Everyday examples of these devices include phones, watches, household appliances or business applications such as logistics management and vehicle tracking through telematics.
What is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)?
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the application of these principles, specifically to industrial settings. Where the physical device or ‘thing’ becomes, for example, a CNC machine, a load current on a motor or particle counts within a sensitive environment.
By connecting devices to the Internet, businesses can integrate greater compute capabilities, leverage data analytics, and visualization to extract information.
Why would businesses decide to utilize IIoT?
By applying cost-effective and customized technology only where it is needed, new data sources can be harnessed. These data sources can deliver new business value, more effective asset management, and increased workforce flexibility.
The value of some of these solutions include:
- More flexible staffing to support an increased product mix
- Reducing the cost of manual testing
- New decision-making systems for management
- Minimizing energy consumption while maintaining production standards
- Reducing scrap
- Improved return on investment on existing plant infrastructure
- Reducing recertifications
How IMR Can Help: Fully Customizable IIoT Solutions
The main thing to note here is that the IIoT solutions are fully customizable to suit each business’s needs.
IMR’s role is to help you understand what information is needed and what data streams are required from your existing equipment assets and systems. We then work with you to understand what infrastructure is needed to capture the right data by working on the right production equipment or industrial system.
Typical areas we look at/questions we ask are:
- Do sensors need to be added?
- Can they be connected via gateways to the cloud (local, segregated or an ISP)?
- Should the data be captured on-premise?
- How can we convert this data into relevant information to an organization?
- How can we ensure no risk to the operation?
Risk-Free IIoT
IMR has developed an IIoT toolkit to enable customers in a risk-free way to understand how IIoT can benefit their organizations. It allows them to take their first steps on a digital path enabling them to understand how technology can augment their existing infrastructure and what future applications could be integrated into their existing or future operations.
Figure A illustrates a factory’s infrastructure without IMR’s IIoT Toolkit.
Figure B illustrates how factory infrastructure can be improved with an IMR IIoT Toolkit.
Examples of IMR Toolkit Applications
- Monitor & display – sensorization of a specific process, collection and visualization of data in real-time allowing quicker decision making
- Monitor, persist and display – supporting real-time data collection, historical queries and event/alarms generation of the right data
- Monitor, persist and integration with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) enabling analysis & display of the right data
- Simulation and Machine Learning enabling more effective analysis of process performance
If you are interested in learning more about IIoT or how the IMR Toolkit can help your company, please get in touch!