Smart Factory with Industrial IoT The impact of IoT technology is predominant and ever-prevailing in the manufacturing/industrial sector. In the present scenario, IoT has redefined the industrial sector with the introduction of “Smart Factory”. With the advent of a smart factory, we can gather and communicate critical information across an organization with ease. Thus, a smart factory, with the aid of IoT helps to reveal hidden losses which subsequently improves overall productivity and yields maximum efficiency. The major application domains that contribute to the establishment of a smart factory are as follows:
Industrial IoT (IIoT)
Process Analytics
Portable Monitoring
Smart Instrumentation (Smart Machinery)
About Industrial IoT (IIoT)
Industrial IoT, commonly known as IIoT is the incorporation of IoT technology in manufacturing sector. IIoT utilizes various aspects from the field of IoT such as machine learning using big data analytics, exploiting sensor data, machine to machine (M2M) communication and automation techniques in the industrial platform. With the advancement of IoT in the industrial sector, smart machines have come into existence which is more precise, consistent and communicative when compared with the present labor force. The evolution of smart machines with the aid of Industrial IoT in the manufacturing area could produce much more operational excellence in terms of quality control and overall supply chain efficiency in the future days to come.
Process Analytics Process analytics involves detailed analysis of processes through which one may discover, improve and monitor the existing process. The process is much more business-oriented and IoT’s role in the business field is relatively known as “Rise of Things” which involves the applications of mobile, cloud, big data analytics and connected devices (Things) by which IoT can transform the business sector and reach new heights.
Portable Monitoring The application of portable monitor has not yet knocked the door of the industrial zone but the encroachment is fast approaching. Currently in the industrial precinct with the help of IoT technology, the portable monitor can detect factory environment mainly the safety factor. IoT enabled device scans for dust, gas, CO2, water, toxic fumes and other precarious elements to stabilize the operations in a smart factory ensuring the factory environment quality to be intact, 24×7.
Smart Instrumentation (Smart Machinery) The deployment of smart instruments by the IoT driving force offers less complex, better performance and reduced cost for process control and data acquisition. These smart instruments can therefore be used to compute complex calculations and measurements without the aid of an automation system. One typical scenario is the interfacing of Vortex flow meter with a pressure transmitter to determine precise energy flow. These Industrial IoT-intelligent systems are hence employed in applications such as process nursing, equipment monitoring, environmental monitoring, energy management, predictable maintenance and advanced diagnostics in the real-time scenarios under a smart factory, simplifying overall automation process.