The number of connected devices in modern production facilities is exponentially increasing every year. The number of IoT based manufacturing connections is expected to cross more than 5.4 billion by the end of 2020.
The technology of Internet of Things is clearly ushering industries into a digital age, resulting in the emergence of a new batch of Intelligent Industries. As Industry 4.0 and Industrial IoT reach a new pedestal of interconnection and telematics where manufacturing equipment are continuously ingesting and sharing data, it has now become rudimentary for companies to leverage analytics and data processing capabilities.
Different IoT devices and components work collectively to gather essential data from machines and assets of a factory. These hardware pieces are responsible for connecting the apparatus and ingest data from them, which makes simplicity and reliability an important aspect of their installation and use.
Biz4Intellia provides comprehensive end to end IoT systems that empower you to easily install sensory devices on your equipment and collect insightful information from them.
Reliable Biz4Intellia IoT Solution for Factory Analytics
Top-notch sensors and meters of Biz4Intellia allow you to gather necessary data from endpoints. For widespread connectivity, only a single gateway is required that can collect data from sensory devices within a range of 1,200 feet.
Gateway and other hardware pieces are connected over a secure network – secluded from any public internet, that helps you to gather all the necessary information regarding your factory while eliminating chances of an external cyberattack on your IoT network. The data is then fed through the gateway into a cloud, where it is stored and processed via different modules.
Gathered data from all over the factory is compiled, evaluated, and analyzed via analytical engines and data processing tools to generate useful and vital information. By using these insights, you gain the ability to make better decisions to enhance efficiency, optimize resource utilization, or increase overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
With this in mind, here is a list of IoT analytics applications that will help you gain returns on investment in a very short time.
1) Predictive Maintenance:
To limit breakdowns and downtime, factories require a proper maintenance regime. The use of IoT analytics helps you to analyze patterns related to equipment failures and breakdowns that help you to predict future machine breakdown. Hence, malfunctions and machine failures can be prevented, allowing you to optimize your inspection and maintenance tasks and reduce the chances of machine unavailability.
2) Better Quality Testing:
Improved quality is another payback for the investment in factory analytics, and that too a very important one. Analytics enable instant calculation of data gathered from endpoints based on pre-entered formulas and expressions. Defects per million opportunities (DPMO) and other complex process performance calculations can also be made to derive parameters that define the quality of the manufacturing goods.
3) Reducing Energy Consumption:
The use of analytics also helps in reducing energy consumption. The amount of energy utilized by different assets and equipment in the factory when monitored and processed regularly via analytics systems helps in the identification of bottlenecks that results in energy wastage. Aspects such as machine idling and equipment downtime can hence be eliminated to maximize energy utilization and reduce energy consumption.
4) Increased Productivity:
IoT based analytics systems along with monitoring systems result in smarter manufacturing processes that further result in increased production rate. Trends and patterns generated from analytics systems help in the identification of inefficiencies and inadequacies. By rectifying these issues, the efficiency of the factory apparatus, performance level of shop floor workers, and machine utilization can be considerably increased.
When to Expect Paybacks from Investment in IoT Analytics?
After understanding the benefits of implementing IoT systems with advanced analytics in a factory, it becomes important to know the time by which you can gain ROI.
The payback from an analytics system can vary based on the size and complexity of the apparatus in which the IoT system is integrated. Time to achieve ROI can also vary based on the objective the industry is trying to achieve. For instance, the analytics engine can give some inputs regarding energy consumption monitoring within a couple of months, while it may take more than 6 months to gain insights regarding predictive maintenance since more time is required to accurately analyze data to identify breakdown variables.
Most of the manufacturers expect to gain heavy returns within the first couple of months after installing smart manufacturing systems. While in some cases this vision becomes an instant reality, in other circumstances it may take some time before any returns are achieved.
For a small to medium scale enterprise, the payback period is generally between 3 to 6 months after the data collection and processing system is installed. However, these systems surely give returns in the long-run.
CONCLUSION:
IoT devices used at Biz4Intellia support agnosticism, meaning that they can be connected to a machine of any brand, type, or model; ranging from legacy equipment to state of the art machinery. This allows the analytics systems to gather data seamlessly and process them in real-time to develop necessary trends and patterns for different purposes.
Analytical and calculative features are the future of IoT systems as they allow companies to derive value from the data in the form of graphs, numbers, charts, and readings. These plug-and-play IoT systems have made it simpler for companies to gain benefits in terms of efficiency improvement and productivity enhancement from the first day of implementation.
