Today, you rarely meet a discrete manufacturer that doesn't know that implementing IoT for the connected factory is crucial , especially in todays dynamic landscape and with all the supply chain and other challenges that have greatened in the last 2 years.
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In discrete manufacturing, when you implement IoT, not only do you create the smart factory, but you also stay relevant, competitive, and become an industry leader.In a nutshell, Smart manufacturing allows factory managers to automatically collect and analyze data to make better-informed decisions and optimize production. The data from sensors and machines are communicated to the Cloud by IoT connectivity solutions deployed at the factory level.But this is a big step, and one you have decided to make the (smart) decision of going digital, there are a few industry 4.0 questions every discrete manufacturer must ask before embarking on the journey to automation and digitization.While the decision to implement an IIoT / connected factory / Industry 4.0 (or alike) solution is a no brainer, choosing and onboarding the right IIoT provider and the right solution remains a big challenge.
Choosing your IIoT provider
Looking for an IIoT solution can present you with a dizzying array of choices, but an experienced vendor who understands your business will help you every step of the way.
There's no better time than now to put together a digital transformation plan and start looking for the right supplier. Make sure the first thing you search for is an Industry 4.0 company that understands the unique demands of discrete manufacturing and, and also has experience at working in your specific sector.
A company that just knows about cloud and the internet of things isn't going to cut it. You need a specialised industrial IoT partner who understands discrete manufacturing, and can manage the specific challenges that are thrown up by the digitization of physical production processes.
To find companies with relevant industrial experience, check out their case study list and ask about significant success stories; and make sure you have examined your priorities so that you have the right questions ready. You need a provider that understands industry because the challenges, applications and use cases are very different for discrete manufacturers, and often more complex, than for other companies.
To learn more, check out our free guide on how to select the right IIoT vendor here.
Choosing your IIoT solution
The variety of IIoT platforms and software solutions out there is overwhelming, and I encounter new, promising AI-based solutions on a daily basis. It seems that every business that holds some sort of relationship with manufacturers gladly enters the IIoT game, be it an inhouse developed solution, a point solution, distribution-based collaboration or the like.
It's no surprise, therefore, that manufacturers trying to onboard Industry 4.0 are having trouble understanding the differences between solutions and the benefits of each.
This makes the decision-making process long and tedious and the result is that companies are busy with pilots and evaluations rather than successfully implementing solutions.
IIoT solution vendors on the other hand, do their best to provide prospects with a world of relevant pre-purchase data, but it's hard to expect full transparency, at least during early exploratory stages. And besides, it remains the manufacturers' responsibility (yes, you) to ask the right questions.
I've always appreciated potential customers that challenge me and ask the hard questions. I know that they will be very successful with the deployment of new technologies and make the most out of the IIoT solution. Some of them even manage to get the team on board with brainstorming how to fulfil requests, challenge us with higher requirements for factory digitization and that's always good for business evolution.
Therefore, I thought you would appreciate a decent list of the most important and relevant questions that you should ask so that you can be sure, before selecting your IIoT partner and solution, that they are suitable for the road ahead, as well as that your solution is optimized to help your factory adapt to the ongoing restrictions caused by COVID-19 ' the 'new now'.
1. What sets a solution apart from other established IIoT companies?
The simplest question is sometimes the hardest one to answer!
Why choose you? Why are you better than other solutions out there?
When it comes to IIoT solutions, some customers are at a complete loss. Obviously, they know what industry 4.0 is all about. They are even familiar with the trends or with related areas (e.g. IIoT in supply chain collaboration), but more often than not they can't tell why they are working with a specific IIoT solution and how it is different from others.
You would be surprised, though, to know how huge the differences between vendors and platforms really are.
For instance, some Industry 4.0 solutions are focused on discrete manufacturing while others specialize in the process industry. Why is this important? Well, discrete manufacturers have specific challenges, risks, working methods, complexity and so on. They must use an IIoT vendor that knows the ropes in their journey.
Additionally, some companies focus on a single application or point solution such as predictive maintenance for a specific machine, while others offer a holistic solution that can cover the needs of the entire factory floor or even the entire supply chain. It is important to clarify from the start how far on the IIoT journey a specific solution can support you. Give strong consideration to how many of your current and future production challenges could be addressed by advanced manufacturing solutions. It is likely to be more than you might first assume.
Another example relates to the main benefits of the solutions: while many solutions focus on tracking important parameters, collecting data, and offering reports or simple dashboards, only a few of them will provide AI-based actionable insights and alerts that can turn a smart device into meaningful improvement in the manufacturing process that can then be translated into real savings. Smart devices and digitization are the means, not the goal. It's one thing to know the exact location of your tools but it's a whole different thing to receive an alert with a clear recommendation, 'tool X requires service, use tool Y instead', based on the actual duty cycles the tool has gone through or 'work order X is misplaced' based on machine learning of routes of past work orders.
2. Does the solution include decision-making support and an optimization layer
When talking about IIoT, other words such as 'the smart factory' are raised, and quite rightfully so. The big promise of IIoT is not only about the collection of data (though data is a big part of it), but about delivering actionable insights based on this data that can help factory staff and management to optimize their daily decision-making processes, make fewer mistakes, reduce waste, increase scale and boost revenues.
But, only a few of the currently available IIoT solutions can fulfil that promise.
Why? Well, it requires in-depth knowledge of manufacturing processes and the business challenges various vertical industries face as well as vast experience in AI algorithms and optimization methods. Our experience shows that there is no one-size-fits-all magical solution that can address all problems related to production. Not to mention that in some cases you do not have enough data to run machine learning and the solution resides in other methods. The bottom line is you need to deeply understand manufacturing, as well as the IoT methods needed to collect the data and the AI methods that deliver benefits and process improvements from that data.
Many vendors have identified 'low-hanging fruit' ' the need of factories to get digital and connected. They can fulfil this need relatively easily, connecting one type of machines or devices, but that's just part of the game.
Why is it not enough?
Simple: Modern manufacturing requires real-time decisions, scale based on a long and growing list of variables and constraints. The demand constantly grows, and the effort is beyond what humans can take. If manufacturers wish to maintain quality, they must turn to technology that not only knows to collect data but also knows how to use it ' i.e. understands the latest big data techniques required ' in order to derive the right actions. Additionally, the new COVID restrictions surrounding factory social distancing ' restrictions that factories now need to be prepared to manage for the foreseeable future, are also best addressed by IoT vendors who understand factories.
McKinsey consultants have previously pointed out that most of the IoT data collected today is not used at all, and the data that is used is not fully made use of.' They gave the example of an oil rig with 30,000 sensors where less than 1% of the data generated by this large collection of sensors was ever used.of the IoT data collected today is not used at all, and the data that is used is not fully made use of.' They gave the example of an oil rig with 30,000 sensors where less than 1% of the data generated by this large collection of sensors was ever used.
Choosing a solution that offers actionable insights, predictions and suggestions is the missing element.
3. What does experience in a specific industry mean?
Right after you make sure the IIoT solution you are considering has unique benefits that suit your demands and offers optimization as well as monitoring, you should check which industries it was implemented in, and for how long.
Does it specialize in discrete manufacturing? Aerospace? Automotive? Industrial Manufacturing? Medical devices?
It doesn't have to be your exact industry, but it is recommended to work with a vendor that knows a thing or two about your specific challenges and has gained experience in your (or a similar) ecosystem. This is important since an experienced IIoT vendor will know how to help you onboard the solution for your specific needs, can help you with concrete suggestions and insights, can offer relevant insights regarding cyber and data security issues and can connect you with other industry players that can support you further.
4. What is your position when it comes to security? Will it offer authentication & authorization of all components or users?
Industry 4.0 introduces a new kind of security risks: cybersecurity risks. Gartner's pessimistic prediction that: 'by , more than 25 percent of identified attacks in enterprises will involve IoT' , is actually quite realistic. Take for example the handful of industrial cyber-attacks: Stuxnet, The Havex, WannaCry, Petya and so on.
I can say with confidence that cybersecurity risks shouldn't be dismissed, and the new era of big data that is upon us can indeed create some big problems. But these can be managed.
In fact, the best IIoT solutions face it head on: they develop systems that offer encryption and authorisation, that run on HTTPS protocol (secure protocol), include threat detection, firewalls, VPN and password changes, and provide an architecture that is resilient enough in case there is a breach.
And I haven't even talked about their service offering if there was a data security threat (or, god forbid, a successful attack).
Besides these necessary external security steps, make sure the solution you choose is also internally safe. Ask if development and production share the same cloud environment (server), if they do, that may cause a problem by opening you up to the threat of human error. Ask who has permission to access the development cycle of the IIoT solution.
Yes, an extra careful vendor is indeed a safer one to work with.
At the same time, don't worry too much. Cloud providers employ massive teams of cybersecurity specialists. So, as long as you choose your IIoT vendor carefully, you should end up with a cloud provider that probably provides a higher standard of data security than your own current in-house servers enjoy.
5. How does customer support with setup, training and ongoing maintenance work?
This is a question that I hear a lot, and an issue that keeps being raised by our new customers. Yet, this part often isn't examined thoroughly enough during the vendor selection process, even though it has huge implications for the success of the project.
Therefore, make sure to double check the level of professional services the IIoT solution offers to help you get up and running, as well as the level of support the provider offers regarding training your team, ongoing availability, response time, problems they fix and so forth.
Don't be shy. Dig around on their website and look for references and success stories and ask the provider for references.
The vendor of your choice should also offer experienced consultants that have the proven proficiency required for successful deployment and ongoing working process, taking care of the various stages starting from project definition, process mapping, through integration to your existing systems, system configuration, testing and fine-tuning, successful launch and maintenance.
Try to understand how active the development side might be ' ask about a road map, how frequently version updates occur including the upgrade process and if it causes any production downtime (it shouldn't) and the availability of the development team to fix bugs and their ability to do it remotely. All of these criteria will give you an understanding of what to expect in terms of feature updates, bug fixes and improvements. Believe me, these needs will come up at some point, so it's important to know that you're working with a company that is constantly innovating and developing new apps that follow market trends and can address evolving challenges.
One last thing, don't forget to also ask if a dedicated account manager will be assigned to your needs. Having a single focal point makes day to day management much friendlier.
6. How easily can the solution fit into your current IT environment?
No IIoT solution operates in a vacuum, in the majority of cases it is necessary that the platform of your choice will be open and flexible so it will be able to integrate or communicate with other 3rd party systems, such as ERP, MES, inventory management systems, manufacturing planning systems, CAD/PLM and alike.
As most manufacturers are already integrated with multiple legacy systems, this is a must to ensure the continuity of information flow, avoiding the need to re-enter data, complex migrations or loss of data.
Furthermore, you'll need a system that is compatible with different kinds of communication protocols. Since one of the main problems in our industrial manufacturing ecosystem is lack of standardization, you may have legacy systems that use multiple communication protocols and are based on various industry standards. Hence, the IIoT system you choose should support common communication protocols.
7 . What about scaling production to fit the market demand? How will the IoT solution deal with that?
Who said that the holy grail doesn't come with pains? Growth always takes its toll, and in this case, scaling has multiple implications on existing software (and hardware as well).
Your chosen IIoT solution should be as prepared for tomorrow as best as possible; it has to be as agile as your business and operations need to be. After all, its main purpose is to boost efficiency, which leads to an increase in growth and scale. A good IIoT solution must be as flexible as it can be, being able to add additional partners, scale to support massive growth, increase asset categories, support a bigger supply chain and even be adaptable in terms of business models.
Your specific needs will probably significantly change with growth, so your AI solution must be scalable.
Another important question to ask is what will happen when you scale? Will the system get slower with more and more workstations and items to manage? What about storage of data and access of more and more users to the system?
Scaling, of course, should also be reflected in the cost as well; don't forget to ask about this. You don't want there to be any surprises.
8. How friendly is the system? Was it design to work in a manufacturing floor environment?
At the end of the day it's the use interface and experience that meet the needs of the users (your team). Additionally, the success of your new IIoT solution in bringing the change it has promised depends on the users.
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If your team has trouble using the system, expect resentment. Alternatively, if the system is user-friendly and intuitive, expect massive engagement and a checkmark on your way to implementing the smart factory vision.
The user interface should be as fast, intuitive and self-explanatory as it can be, allowing for a fast learning curve by all employees, not only your shining stars. Yes, it should be accessible from different platforms such as PC, tablet and even from mobile devices and wearables (see google glass announcement). The UI view structure should be very flexible (allowing for filtering and sorting, rules, generating complex reports, exporting a large amount of data), so your team can easily manage the vast amounts of data generated in real-time.
Getting a demo or running a trial are both great ways to evaluate any solution's UI. Don't hesitate to also ask for references and talk to other people who actually use the system in production.
9. What groundwork needs to be laid? Does the solution require special hardware?
IIoT systems work with sensors, no news here. Sometimes you may need to install sensors and additional edge devices or on-premises computers to screen data collected by the sensors.
In other words, some groundwork may need to be laid.
Before deploying an IIoT solution, it is important to understand what prerequisites are being taken care of by the IIoT vendor. Who will handle hardware installation? Who will manage the ongoing logistics and support with the new hardware? Can the solution be deployed remotely?
These are important questions to ask in order to understand what the deployment process entails and who's responsible for what.
Last one!
10. Where are data centers located? Will there be latency due to distance?
The vendor you are considering must own servers that are located in one or more data centers. You should know where they are (hopefully in a central location) and what measures are taken to shorten latency as much as possible. Do they use a CDN? Which one? If so, for most customers that will suffice. If you are part of those selected few that require data not be taken out of a certain location (due to compliance issues or security restrictions), share this with the vendor ' a professional vendor will have relevant answers and will find a suitable solution that will keep you both happy.
Summary
Yes, there are a lot of issues to resolve and questions to answer before selecting an IIoT partner to accompany you on your Industry 4.0 journey. In this article we tried to arm you with the right questions to ask and which answers to look for.
Good Luck!
What is Industry 4.0? | Key Terms to Know | The History of Industry 4.0 | Benefits of Industry 4.0| Examples of Industry 4.0 in Use Today| Implementing Industry 4.0 in Your Factory | Is Industry 4.0 the Fourth Industrial Revolution?
Experts from around the world agree:
The manufacturing industry is undergoing a substantial change, and it's happening as we speak.
Thanks to the emergence of cyber-physical systems, the internet of things, and cloud computing, some experts believe we are on the brink of a fourth industrial revolution.
All of these technologies fall under the umbrella of Industry 4.0, which refers to the recent trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing.
The transfer of information between humans and machines has enabled manufacturers to enhance and automate their systems, become more efficient, and produce less waste.
Right now, it's critical for manufacturers to keep up with these changes in the industry, as they are bound to have a large effect on the future of production around the world.
This guide will answer 6 commonly asked questions about Industry 4.0 and get you started on your journey towards implementing it in your manufacturing processes.
Industry 4.0 refers to the promise of connecting the digital and the physical worlds through smart factories that contain cyber-physical systems.
The term includes many different technologies, applications, and concepts which is why many people are often confused as to what exactly is included under the umbrella of 'Industry 4.0'.
Here, we'll outline some of the conceptual terms that are important to understanding Industry 4.0.
Now that you know a few of the concepts surrounding the idea of Industry 4.0, let's take a look at who came up with the term and how it is being developed today.
The term Industry 4.0 originates from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany, which was a working on project to promote the computerization of manufacturing. (That's why you'll often see the phrase referred to in it's German form, Industrie 4.0.)
The phrase was used publicly for the first time in at the annual industrial technology expo, Hannover Fair, in Germany.
That year Wolfgang Wahlster, Henning Kagermann, and Wolf-Dieter Lukas presented their study Industrie 4.0: Mit dem Internet der Dinge auf dem Weg zur 4. Industriellen Revolution which translates to Industry 4.0: With the Internet of Things on the way to the 4th Industrial revolution. This project proposed the advent of a Fourth Industrial Revolution based on cyber-physical systems like the Internet of Things, advanced analytics, big data and more.
The study states, 'The third industrial revolution, marked by new materials, the use of robots and centralized control systems, will be replaced in the next decade with the Internet of Things based on cyber-physical systems: Germany should play the first fiddle here.'
It continues, 'Therefore, the promoter group Communication of the Research Union Economy ' Science of the Federal Government on January 25, proposed the future project Industry 4.0 in its recommendations for action. The future project has since been adopted, with the implementation of business, science and politics have already begun.'
From there, the German government as well as other various private companies in Germany launched the initiative Plattform Industrie 4.0. The end goal is to establish Industry 4.0 implementation as a major priority in Germany and to help drive the mass adoption of Industry 4.0 worldwide.
Plattform Industrie 4.0 has established five 'areas of action' that they believe require decisions to be made by politicians and industrial players:
On an international level, the platform has established alliances with the Industrial Internet Consortium (USA), Alliance Industrie du Futur (France), and the Robot Revolution Initiative (Japan). They're currently working to create an online overview of Industry 4.0 applications worldwide.
As you can expect, all of these organizations working on pushing Industry 4.0 forward are doing so because of the major benefits that can be claimed to the businesses implementing it. So how can manufacturers benefit from Industry 4.0?
One area that is immediately apparent is the technical assistance provided by cyber physical systems. These systems can do the tasks that are too exhausting and dangerous for humans to complete and even use data collected to make spur of the moment decisions in certain urgent situations without the needing the help of humans.
Resource conservation is another one of the benefits that Industry 4.0 technologies can provide. In , the USDA issued 131 recalls that resulted in over 20 million pounds of food going to waste. Implementing simple temperature monitoring and alert systems can help solve problems like food spoilage and waste. These systems can also send an alert when an environment is too hot or cold for the food so that the issue can be handled swiftly.
One of the most often-cited benefits of Industry 4.0 is the opportunity to remotely monitor and control industrial machinery. For systems that need to be monitored regularly, the ability to check in and control different processes from anywhere is extremely valuable.
There are countless applications for Industry 4.0 which means that the benefits are varied as well. Below are some of the other ways manufacturers can benefit from these solutions:
It's easy to talk about the technologies and benefits of Industry 4.0 but real life examples are often the push that higher ups need in order to start really considering how the smart factory of the future could help bolster their businesses.
Below are some examples of Industry 4.0 initiatives that are being used today:
Lockheed Martin is on track to save $11 million over the next five years by using technologies such as additive manufacturing to reduce the cost of the F-35 joint strike fighter's full mission simulators.
Chinese construction equipment manufacturer LiuGong is embracing Industry 4.0 technology to enable them to target $7.18 billion in operating revenue by .
Europe's largest lawn and garden machinery company, Global Garden Products, uses connected sensors to track and monitor engine vitals as well as sending the readings to cloud data storage. They're getting the information they need right now to build better engines as they're bringing the Internet of Things into their manufacturing processes.
Bosch's factory in southern Germany used Industry 4.0 technology to reduce their cycle times by 8% resulting in a cost savings of '500,000 in the first year alone.
GM has started using collaborative robots to aim headlights and calibrate radar for cruise control in their vehicles. The process now takes only three seconds and has reaped huge efficiency gains for the company.
Cake manufacturer, Mongini's, retrofitted their factories' production lines and facilities with IoT systems that enable quality assurance food safety teams to know immediately whenever impurities are detected in their products. And they've updated their cold chain and modified their commercial freezers so that factory supervisors can optimize the whole production process from batter to bite.
Jackie Rednour-Bruckman is working with the Georgia Department of Agriculture and Daxima Software to use blockchain to track animals from conception to consumption. Jackie says, 'Farm to table suddenly becomes a wealth of information with just the scan of a bar code.'
At this point, you may be ready to start really thinking about the ways that you can improve processes with Industry 4.0 in your factory. However, you are probably wondering what barriers to entry you should expect along your implementation journey.
Challenges of implementation can include lack of buy-in and knowledge from the top down, the skills gap of your current employees, data security concerns, and scalability and reliability.
However, with technologies like Temboo's Kosmos System, the process can be made much easier.
Kosmos enables businesses to more easily implement Internet-connected sensors, actuators, and machinery in their products, processes, and facilities. It's unique among IoT offerings in that:
Temboo has helped companies all over the world get started with Industry 4.0 technologies. We've seen first hand the challenges that are faced with digital transformation and we've also seen the ways that companies overcome those challenges.
We've also come up with a 7 step checklist to help get you started and have many tutorials, overviews, and case studies available on our blog.
The first industrial revolution was brought on with the use of water and steam power as well as mechanization in the late 18th Century.
The second is widely regarded as the period during which the assembly line was invented as well as the first use of electricity in industry which happened around .
In the late 60's the third industrial revolution was spurred through the use of computers and automation such as the PLC.
Nowadays, there are some people who equate Industry 4.0 with the 4th Industrial Revolution.
However, others argue that the changes proffered by Industry 4.0 have not yet had a significant enough impact on the process of manufacturing to be considered a new Industrial Revolution.
According to Dmitry Lukovkin, AI Business Director of Zyfra Group, 'Technologies we have now can really make a significant impact on manufacturing'.But we are far from what's suggested to be a fourth industrial revolution.'
He continues, 'The total critical infrastructure is yet to be created. But the picture will change in 5 years. The countdown to the Fourth Industrial Revolution starts not when a few companies implement Industry 4.0 technologies, but when it starts to influence the market. By -25 we'll see and feel the changes.'
Stefan Issing, Global Automotive Industry Director at IFS agrees that the evolution of technologies within manufacturing has had a significant impact already. 'Within manufacturing, Industry 4.0 has changed the way we collect and analyze data, and how humans, machines and systems collaborate with each other. We're well into changing processes ' such as how we make manufacturing actions more automated, efficient, safer, and streamlined. But, what will push us over the precipice to the fourth industrial revolution is when Industry 4.0 is the driver to change entire manufacturing business models.'
No matter when or how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is brought on, it's undeniable that the technologies that fall under the umbrella of the term are gaining traction with manufacturers around the world. In fact, one report has estimated that the component markets of Industry 4.0 will be worth more than $4T by . Statistics like this prove that Industry 4.0 adoption is on the rise and continuing to grow.
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