Enabling Industry 4.0 with the Internet of Things
Enabling Industry 4.0
If you do a little bit of research into the Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT, you will find hundreds of articles written about the potential benefits offered by this type of technology. Indeed, the sheer number of ways that the IIoT can offer manufacturers a competitive advantage is impressive to say the least. The IIoT offers an increased capability for data collection, an increased capacity for the automation of manufacturing operations, and the possibility of a truly unified network architecture across an entire enterprise among other things. While the competitive advantages offered to early adopters of this technology should not be understated, it is equally as important to consider the potential future benefits that this technology has to offer. It is absolutely vital, especially in today’s ultra-competitive environment, that manufacturers look to the future in an effort to gain or maintain a competitive advantage and ensure the success of the enterprise in the years to come. The fact is that the Manufacturing Industry, as a whole, is on the precipice of a new revolution, dubbed Industry 4.0, that aims to change the way products are created. At the center of this revolution is technology, and at its gate is the Industrial Internet of Things.
A Brief Background of Industry 4.0
In order to understand the vital role that the IIoT plays in the future of manufacturing, it is first necessary to take a look at some of the main goals of the Industry 4.0 vision. The big picture, as it pertains to the Industry 4.0 vision, is composed of 4 design principles. These design principles can be thought of as the high level goals that must be achieved in order to bring Industry 4.0 to life. These goals include:
Interoperability
This represents the unification of the manufacturing enterprise. Interoperability is achieved when machines, sensors, various electronics, and people can connect and communicate with one another across the entire enterprise seamlessly.
Information Transparency
This represents the virtualization of physical environments within the manufacturing enterprise. By aggregating data from sensors throughout the physical manufacturing space and bringing this data into a digital context, manufacturers are able to do things like simulate changes to the environment, analyze data to understand how physical variables can effect operations and more.
Technical Assistance
Basically this one boils down to giving machines the ability to better support human beings within the manufacturing context. This point can be thought of in two main stages. In the first, machines gather, aggregate, and visualize data which allows people to make informed decisions and solve urgent problems quickly. In the second stage, machines actually perform tasks that are difficult, unpleasant or dangerous for human beings.
Decentralized Decisions
This is the point where systems are able to make decisions, based on data, and then perform actions based on those decisions without the need for human intervention.
Looking Forward
Understanding the vital role that the Internet of Things plays in the Industry 4.0 vision requires a little bit of reading between the lines of the Industry 4.0 design principles. While each of these design principles appears to accomplish wildly different tasks, there is a common theme that appears throughout. Each of the Industry 4.0 design principles relates to the acquisition, aggregation or use of increased amounts of data. The Interoperability and Information Transparency design principles both relate to gathering data, and making sure that it is communicated effectively throughout the enterprise. The Technical Assistance design principle requires that data be analyzed and used to streamline manufacturing processes. It’s not even technically possible to achieve the concept of Decentralized Decisions without the collection and use of large dataset, as data is used as a key factor of the decision-making process where machines are concerned. If we accept the premise that data is indeed a common thread of the industry 4.0 vision, where does the IIoT fit in and why is it so vitally important to the future of manufacturing?
The Gatekeeper
The purpose of the IIoT is to allow assorted devices, systems, and sensors to communicate with one another using the existing protocols provided by the internet. This communication channel allows for data to flow throughout the entire enterprise in ways that might not have been previously possible. Additionally, IIoT capable devices and sensors are easily connected to an existing network. This allows for the collection of data that may not have been previously available to the enterprise. In short, the IIoT enables a manufacturer to collect more data about the manufacturing environment while simultaneously enabling this data to flow freely throughout the entire organization.
The data collected and communicated by IIoT devices adds value both in the present and in the future. Data collected today can be used to analyze production capabilities, find room from process improvements, better understand the current manufacturing environment and more. In the future, this same data might be used by an application designed to provide technical assistance to machine operators in the production environment. It’s possible that the data collected by IIoT devices today might be used by a robot in the future to determine the best way to perform a job that is difficult or unsafe for human beings. In this way, the IIoT stands at the gate of the 4th industrial revolution. Its communication and data collection capabilities have the ability to provide the fuel necessary to drive a major change in the way we go about manufacturing. With so many benefits, both present and future, it’s hard to deny the fact that the IIoT is the first step on the path to major change in the industry.
