Stronger demand for customization, increasing customer expectations, the complexity of the global supply chain – these and many other challenges encourage manufacturers to find new, more innovative ways to remain competitive. In an attempt to gain productivity improvements and uncover new ways of enhancing manufacturing and supply chain operations, businesses resort to digital transformation.
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a way to digital transformation in manufacturing. Industrial IoT employs a network of sensors to collect critical production data and uses cloud software to turn this data into valuable insights about the efficiency of the manufacturing operations.
IIoT adoption in Manufacturing
The main adoption drivers for the reduce the time it takes to produce a motorbike from 21 days to 6 hours.
- Mass customization. The mass customization process requires a dramatic increase in the variety of produced SKUs, which causes inventory to go up and become more diverse. Manufacturing operations get more complex as well – the production of 20 items of SKU X can be immediately followed by the production of 10 items of SKU Y. Tracking the inventory and the manufacturing operations becomes burdensome and, in some cases, not feasible. IIoT facilitates mass customization by becoming a source of real-time data required for thoughtful forecasting, shop floor scheduling and routing.
- Improved safety. IIoT helps to ensure a safer workplace. Paired with wearable devices, IIoT allows monitoring workers’ health state and risky activities that can lead to injuries. Along with ensuring workers’ safety, IIoT addresses safety problems in potentially hazardous environments. For instance, in oil and gas industry, IIoT is applied to monitor gas leakages as it travels through the pipe network.