The Industrial Internet of Things is already extensively used across various industries to do much more than optimizing machine assets. IoT is being implemented in healthcare, smart cities, and manufacturing industries to achieve faster development to pull off higher Return on Investment (ROI). By amalgamating hardware and software with the internet, IoT creates a more technically-driven environment.
Industrial IoT is capable of offering better operational efficiency, productivity, and performance. According to industry experts, IIoT will have huge impacts in modern manufacturing as it can help increase efficiency and assist asset monitoring. As such, most of the manufacturing industry leaders have already invested in IIoT. The IoT has multitudes of manufacturing plants’ applications, such as facilitating the production flow in a manufacturing plant, managing warehouses, inventories, etc.
Some manufacturers are even testing deploying a combination of technologies to take advantage of big data, automation, and the IoT to create the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Thus, the applications of IIoT range from minimizing financial risk and reducing production downtime to improving employee health and safety. Here, we’ve listed the top three industrial IoT applications in Manufacturing.
1. Supply chain management
The Industrial IoT is used by manufacturers to access real-time supply chain information by tracking materials, equipment, and products as they move through the supply chain. This helps manufacturers in identifying issues before they happen, as well as potentially reduces capital requirements. It makes it possible to report parts and products as they move through the supply chain. The IIoT-enabled systems can be configured for location tracking and remote monitoring of inventory. Thus, it connects plants to suppliers and all parties involved in the supply chain.
2. Plant Load Optimization
At the core of any manufacturing company lie Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) processes, which enable management to handle the business. It also creates a command and control system that incorporates strategic business plans and every day planned operations. From the long-term perspective, the S&OP process not only guides daily operations and monthly plans but can also predict the load over time. This is quite useful to determine which products an enterprise will manufacture at which plant. The IIoT strategy can help optimize plant load, which has implications on operational and financial performance.
3. Health, Safety, and Environment
IIoT applications are also effective for health, safety, and environment (HSE). This is because the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for health, safety, and environment include lots of data, such as data related to injury and illness rates, employee absences, vehicle incidents, property damage, etc. All such data is stored in numerous systems, spreadsheets, and emails to be reported to the management during reviews or audits. This is where IIoT and analytics strategy can help in addressing HSE issues. Moreover, IIoT and automation also help save costs by monitoring environmental controls, such as HVAC and electricity grids. In addition to this, IoT applications in manufacturing companies also include facility management, Production flow monitoring, Inventory management, Quality control, and much more.