Blogs
16 July 2024
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Eseye
IoT Hardware and Connectivity Specialists
LinkedInIndustrial manufacturing is one of the established industries most ripe for disruption through adoption of IoT and M2M.
Where previous technological innovations in manufacturing have focused on optimization of processes for the purpose of speed of production, smart manufacturing fundamentally changes how manufacturers operate.
Real-time connectivity enables traditionally distinct systems and processes to be completely integrated, closing gaps between product design, process planning, production execution, automation, and delivery. For factory owners and manufacturers, the benefits this translates into are reduced costs, higher output, more complex product offerings, increased order accuracy, and reduced time-to-delivery.
What is Smart Manufacturing?
In the words of Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International, a trade association for the global manufacturing community, “Smart Manufacturing is the intelligent, real-time orchestration and optimization of business, physical and digital processes within factories and across the entire value chain.”
What is Industrial IoT (IIoT)?
Smart manufacturing is sometimes referred to as Industrial IoT (IIoT). In this context, it refers to the use of interconnected devices, sensors, and systems that collect and exchange data to carry out the operational benefits described above.
What is Industry 4.0?
Industry 4.0 is another term frequently used in the context of Smart Manufacturing and IIoT. This is largely a neologism coined to refer to the Fourth Industrial Revolution as ‘the next phase in manufacturing’.
If the Third Industrial Revolution was spearheaded by digitalization, then the fourth is characterized by smart technologies and automation, which by the World Economic Forum’s definition “allow manufacturers to produce goods more efficiently, quickly, cheaply and/or sustainably.”
Although the terms above are all used interchangeably, IIoT is really the application of M2M communication technology to enable Smart Manufacturing, as part of a global Industry 4.0 trend. But this trend encompasses more than IoT. It’s also big data, the cloud, automation and robotics, Human-Machine Interaction (HMI), 3D printing, and the adoption of cyber-physical systems, all collaborating to bring manufacturing into a mixed reality of the physical, augmented, and virtual.
Solutions and benefits for Smart Manufacturing
Berg Insight notes that wireless communication technologies can be integrated into a wide range of devices throughout an industrial automation system for different use cases, from the supervisor level all the way to the control and field levels.
Automation equipment includes instrumentation for industrial sensors, actuators and machines, and providers of industrial network equipment increasingly offer solutions to enable customers to monitor and control devices wirelessly in parts of the plant that are normally not connected to the control room due to accessibility or wiring costs.
For industrial machine manufacturers and operators, this can mean reduced machine downtime, increased worker safety, and better quality control. As more advanced applications are introduced we are expected to see remotely controlled robots especially in more dangerous, or remote industrial locations.
Meanwhile, the downstream benefits of a smart factory manifest as a more flexible system that can adapt efficiently to the demands of a changing marketplace, with a data-driven supply chain, improving manufacturing outcomes, reducing waste, speeding production, and improving yield and the quality of goods produced.
Key components in Smart Manufacturing
Sensors: Collect data from machines, devices, or the local environment.
Actuators: Perform remote-controlled or automated actions.
Data analytics platforms: Tools that aggregate and analyze data to provide insights.
IoT platforms: Management software for status and inventory management of IoT devices.
Industrial Control System (ICS): An industrial operating system and set of devices that regulate the behavior of the machinery and equipment used in the production process. This includes mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic devices, as well as electronics. Many systems are based on the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) architecture for high-level supervision of machines and processes.
Benefits of IIoT in Smart Manufacturing
Resource management
IoT sensors allow factories to measure, monitor and reduce energy and water waste, leading to lower costs and measurable environmental sustainability.
Production efficiency
Real-time data from IoT sensors can be analyzed to help streamline production processes. Data can be aggregated from multiple systems and fed directly back into the production line, enabling improvements in days or hours.
Reduced downtime
Manufacturers can automatically identify potential equipment failures and be alerted to actual failures in real-time. Predictive maintenance makes use of IoT sensors to predict equipment failures and minimize downtime or schedule it for off-peak periods.
Quality control
Continuous monitoring of the production line through IoT sensors ensures product quality and consistency.
Automation and robotics
IoT enables advanced automation capabilities, even allowing sensor-based alerts to trigger activity when stock runs low, completely automating the inventory replenishment process.
Supply chain optimization
Benefits can be extended throughout the entire supply chain, including both incoming raw materials and onward shipping of product inventory, tracking materials and products and optimizing their journey.
Safety
IoT optimizes the safety of workers in a manufacturing plant. IoT wearables mean employees can be monitored continuously for location and health metrics, as well as environmental exposures. This data can also be fed into compliance tools or incident management systems to track KPIs like worker absences, vehicle and machinery damage and accidents.
Smart Manufacturing use cases
There are a number of vertical industries that benefit from IoT in manufacturing.
Automotive
IIoT in automotive can improve precision and monitoring of complex manufacturing processes, enhancing production lines and supply chain management.
Aerospace and Defense
The aerospace and defense sector can use IIoT to improve aircraft manufacturing and maintenance, and even optimize aircraft performance, improve fuel consumption, and enhance aircraft safety.
Consumer goods
IIoT can help ensure product quality and reduce time-to-market through supply chain optimization, inventory management, and customer personalization. In terms of supply chain, IoT can enable AI-driven demand forecasting, and automated warehouses.
Food and beverage
Critically, IIoT can help food and drink producers maintain hygiene and quality standards throughout production by monitoring and controlling production processes, ensuring food safety and traceability.
Additive manufacturing and 3D Printing
IIoT can help additive manufacturers and 3D printers develop even more complex and customized products, reduce material waste, and automate the on-demand production of inventory.
Pharmaceuticals and chemicals
Pharmaceutical companies can leverage IIoT to improve drug development, optimize manufacturing, and improve quality control. Automated processes and robotics can enhance the production of chemicals while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and worker safety.
Textiles and apparel
Textile manufacturers benefit from IIoT by automating production processes, increasing product complexity, and reducing waste.
Smart Manufacturing case studies
Rapid international expansion
Martin Engineering is the world leader in making bulk materials handling cleaner, safer, and more productive. The company operates across six continents, supplying world-class components such as conveyor belt cleaners, air cannons and dust control products and provides connected monitoring solutions for their products.
As part of a rapid expansion, Martin successfully deployed and tested their IoT solution in five new regions without increasing their operational and support overheads, with deployments were achieved in minutes, and comprehensive testing completed within 24 hours.
In-Factory Profile Provisioning (IFPP)
In something of a self-referencing use case, IIoT does actually help in the manufacturing of IoT devices. In-Factory Profile Provisioning (IFPP) capitalizes on the benefits introduced by eUICC, which eliminates the need for a separate plastic SIM card.
IFPP securely loads relevant MNO or MVNO SIM profiles onto IoT devices during the manufacturing or order fulfilment process, streamlining manufacturing and allowing for dynamic changes to the production line.
Global connectivity for Smart Manufacturing
Ensuring industrial production equipment works reliably and consistently means production lines are managed effectively.
Eseye’s AnyNet+ multi-profile SIMs and eSIMs and Hera IoT edge routers deliver automatic connectivity to the best available mobile network, wherever your IIoT is deployed, and switch to an alternative if there’s an interruption.
Eseye’s AnyNet SMARTconnect gives IoT devices the intelligence to swap to another network if connectivity drops, and future-proofs the device by allowing new networks and operators to be easily introduced. It also provides the building blocks to enable connectivity applets with access to multiple RATs – for example cellular, Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth, LoRaWAN and satellite.
Hardware and software is underpinned by Eseye’s Infinity IoT Platform, connectivity management software that provides optimized connectivity for each device, as well full-lifecycle connectivity management.
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Eseye
IoT Hardware and Connectivity Specialists
LinkedIn
Eseye brings decades of end-to-end expertise to integrate and optimise IoT connectivity delivering near 100% uptime. From idea to implementation and beyond, we deliver lasting value from IoT. Nobody does IoT better.