By Kylie Jane Wakefield
The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing manufacturing as we know it. Factories and plants that are connected to the Internet are more efficient, productive and smarter than their non-connected counterparts. In a marketplace where companies increasingly need to do whatever they can to survive, those that don’t take advantage of connectivity are lagging behind.
Only 10 percent of industrial operations are currently using the connected enterprise, according to John Nesi, vice president of market development at Rockwell Automation, which connects businesses to cyberspace to improve manufacturing functions. “Global competitive pressures are challenging industrial and manufacturing companies to drive inefficiencies out of their systems, manage workforce skills gaps and uncover new business opportunities,” he says.
Connected enterprises see increase in efficiency
According to Nesi, one of Rockwell’s food and beverage clients, King’s Hawaiian, was able to put out an additional 180,000 pounds of bread every day, doubling their previous production amount, after installing new technologies.
King’s Hawaiian installed 11 connected machines into a new factory.
The machines were linked to FactoryTalk, software that lets the company’s employees have remote access to both historical and real-time data and features production dashboards that provide a comprehensive picture of the whole system so they can monitor performance.
All of this software and hardware resulted “in faster time to market, improved asset utilization and optimization, lower total cost of ownership, workforce efficiency, enterprise risk management and smarter expenditures,” Nesi says.
Manufacturing equipment (photo source: iStock)
The new system reduced maintenance costs and downtime, as well as the capability to collect more data. In turn, Nesi says, “this afforded them the ability to aggregate data and present dashboards accessible on the Web that allow managers to monitor operations and KPIs across the enterprise.”
Since systems like King’s Hawaiian’s are connected to the Internet, they can be controlled and managed from a remote operations center. This allows global companies to set up plants in countries around the world and monitor them in real time.
“Extending the information from the process remotely has become a viable way to extend the manufacturing footprint, consolidate expertise if it can’t be sourced locally and to manage asset performance more efficiently,” says Nesi.
Another company that reaps the benefits of a connected system is
According to O’Reilly’s David Stephenson, technology at GE and at similar manufacturers has resulted in innovations never before realized. “The Internet of Things promises to eliminate massive information gaps about real-time conditions on the factory floor that have made it impossible to fully optimize production and eliminate waste in the past,” he says.
Decreasing safety hazards in the workplace
The connected enterprise has more to offer than sped up processes and a better understanding of what’s going on in a factory. It’s also making the workplace safer for employees.
Sine-Wave, a company that focuses on technological solutions for businesses, has created a customized IoT program that resulted in increased safety and communication in mines. According to their website, they designed a browser-based application that allows users to communicate with the workers, operators, and machines in the mine, as well as “see a real-time view of all activities underground [including] custom mapping of each mining operation.” By knowing what’s going on in the underground mines in real time, users can avoid safety hazards and respond to emergencies quickly.
Cybersecurity risks
When manufacturers use the IoT in their factories, they should weigh the risks, says Michael Assante of the SANS Institute. Before connecting, the security team should be confident “in their understanding of the exposed protocols, interfaces/configurations, system software, firmware and authentication controls.”
These security precautions are going to become increasingly important over time. “It is projected that the number of connected endpoints will approach 50 billion in the next five years,” Nesi says. “Over time, every endpoint in manufacturing – whether a sensor, a valve, instruments or machines — will serve intelligence to a larger information system.”
By installing smart devices into plants and factories and ensuring that they’re backed up by secure systems, companies can reap the benefits that the connected enterprise has to offer.
Kylie Jane Wakefield is a Los Angeles based freelance writer whose work has been featured in Los Angeles Downtown News, Time Out New York, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, Dell’s Tech Page One, LegalZoom, and Baltimore CityPaper.
