At the beginning of 2020, industrial IoT companies were strategizing how to tackle the aftermath of Brexit, the challenges of the automotive industry, and the slowing demand in China. However, the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic threw the global economy and entire operations into crisis. Governments, healthcare authorities, and business leaders focused on preserving lives and containing the spread of the pandemic.
Industries shut down their production networks, resulting in the breakdown of entire value chains. Lessened supply and demand significantly decreased production volumes or stopped operations entirely. Businesses had to quickly adopt digital transformation and technological innovation to ensure business continuity.
With one month into 2021, the pandemic seems to continue well into this year as well. Therefore, it is important to navigate this current crisis and reach the next normal. So, companies need to figure out the answer to the following three questions:
- How can we ensure business continuity now?
- What can we do to return to business and increase our flexibility to thrive in the “new normal”?
- To improve our business over the long term, and emerge even stronger, what can we do?
This is where Industrial IoT (IIoT) comes in.
Role of Industrial IoT in the New Normal
Industrial IoT, a major element of Industry 4.0, can enable businesses to successfully embark on their digital journey in the future of remote work. This is especially true if organizations haven’t yet explored the functionalities and advantages of IIoT. Therefore, it is a critical improvement lever in times of crisis.
Industrial IoT is expected to disrupt tons of industries due to the increased adoption of cloud and 5G.
Some of the many benefits of moving to a new form of managing industrial operations include reducing costs and time required. It also leads to more productive and efficient ways of doing business overall.
However, instilling IIoT in routine operations is challenging.
While some companies may have been avoiding the shift to the industrial Internet of Things (IoT) due to the challenges and fears surrounding it, there are many reasons to get in the game now.
Let’s delve into a few reasons why the growth of IIoT is changing the future of manufacturing work. We will also cover how it ultimately improves operational efficiency, customer experience, and pipeline visibility.
IoT and Automated Maintenance
The most important way IIoT helps manufacturing companies is through automated and digitized preventative maintenance. This improves productivity and ensures more efficient operations.
How Does this Work?
By collecting tons of data—way more than humans could possibly process—predictive maintenance can predict when machine issues might occur and prevent them before they happen. Some of the leading enterprise software companies have built solutions to tackle predictive maintenance.
Infrastructure companies have also been actively building hardware to enable greater connectivity between the operational data and IT systems.
Organizations and businesses can find it overwhelming to comprehend the vast amounts of data that they have to collect. Companies can start by tracking smaller things like production counts, sensor malfunctions, machine state changes, energy status, average time of stagnation, etc.
These simple statistics can help show valuable patterns, such as when machines are least productive, when a large amount of energy is being wasted, or when machines are experiencing failure.
Improving Employee Safety
The pandemic has revolutionized workforces and the new normal requires businesses and companies to put their employees’ safety first. IoT trends can provide valuable data in keeping employees safe.
In 2018, workplace injuries cost more than $170 billion. This was before the increased need to take proactive measures to keep employees safe from the pandemic.
How Can IoT Keep Employees Safe?
Using the data collected from IIoT, companies are better equipped to keep their workplaces safe. This is done by finding areas where teammate training is lacking, where most injuries occur, and where machines normally malfunction. Wearable devices are becoming extremely common, and this is also a way to determine if employees are overexerting themselves or suffering from extreme heat, etc.
Although it can be challenging to get employees to adopt technology-driven safety measures, it has never been easier to take positive and proactive steps to keep employees safe.
IoT As Digital Twins
Digital twins are among the most valuable creations from the Industrial IoT. So what exactly is a digital twin? A digital twin is a digital representation of anything from a production line to a new product or a product’s performance over time.
By collecting and using data, companies can save millions of dollars as it eliminates the cost of creating full-size, real-life prototypes. Similarly, a huge amount of valuable and productive time is also saved because employees won’t have to rush toward those prototypes in real time to see the long-term effects.
By simply running algorithms, performance can be determined over time, given the data is collected.
The development in the cloud, cutting-edge embedded systems technology, and cybersecurity associated with the Industrial IoT is getting increasingly strong, with the connectivity getting more reliable. IIoT has a huge impact on how the new normal will look once the pandemic is over.
IoT Solutions in Remote Training
Employee training is a vital part of any industry or manufacturing unit. It’s imperative to teach employees about safety rules and regulations and all necessary precautions. Previously, a truly interactive training session could only be conducted in person.
Now, due to the IoT technology,
businesses deliver educational content and skill-based training to remote workforces
Through the use of IoT, leadership, and management can enhance the skills of employees when working from home. During the onboarding process of new employees and the technical orientation, the adoption of IoT results in a seamless experience for both the employees and the company.
Companies can ensure a rich experience by simulating their industries and workforces and teaching employees the necessary precautions.
Many manufacturing industries were already using new IIoT technologies to deploy predictive maintenance, real-time shipment visibility, equipment-as-a-service, and other IoT applications to fundamentally change their business. The pandemic has led to the drastic adoption of IIoT technologies to truly create smarter factories, cities, and supply chains, but it’s still relatively slow.
The reason is that IIoT is complex and requires operational technology to connect with IT systems. This requires expertise in IoT hardware, wireless connectivity, back-end cloud software, IoT protocols, IoT cybersecurity, and much more.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the adoption of Industrial IoT (IIoT) is critical for businesses to thrive in the new normal of remote work and digital transformation. IIoT offers numerous benefits such as automated maintenance, enhanced employee safety, and the creation of digital twins, which together improve operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Despite its complexity, advancements in IoT-focused cloud platforms, edge-to-cloud solutions, and API-based SaaS offerings are making IIoT more accessible, helping companies overcome skill gaps and deploy these technologies effectively. As industries continue to navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic, leveraging IIoT will be key to ensuring business continuity, flexibility, and long-term growth.
If you need any assistance with IoT or the deployment of smart devices, get in touch with us at [email protected].