Tremendous changes are taking place as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) which is poised to shake up the way production is done. Here are 5 things you don’t want your competition to know about what this means for 21st Century machine production.
Connect Their Production Chain
The first thing you don’t want your competition to understand is that they can tie together all aspects of their production chain. This is the foundation of the Smart Factory. By connecting all aspects of the plant lifecycle, everything can be accessed by the internet infrastructure. This holds many competitive advantages, not the least of which is faster to market production capabilities facilitated by an exponentially streamlined operations that improve performance, reduce risks, lower capital and operating costs, and increase reliability.
Take Advantage of Their Data
So, how does connecting production bring about time and cost savings and improve product integrity? The key is in the data. You really don’t want your competitors to realize the hidden gold they have in their database.
The beauty of a connected plant lies in the ability to utilize that data effectively and allow real time access to that data by everything and everyone involved. Having the ability to populate changes and revisions throughout the design and manufacturing process is just one of the ways this speeds the process and reduces errors that can delay production.
Making Machines Smart
Production assets are more valuable when they have a voice in the design and manufacturing process. When machines are visible and able to communicate essential information, value is obtained from effective predictive maintenance strategies, the availability of real-time diagnostic information from automation assets, and easier access to information. IIoT-connected instruments provide new, robust data that can be collected, analyzed, and acted upon to improve performance.
The competition will have no trouble exploiting those benefits.
Develop Smart Components
Imagine if your competitors were able to standardize redundant elements of their product catalog, archive them and reuse them in subsequent designs. These pieces of already-validated data can then be scaled to the requisite size (including all engineering data throughout all schematics and lists) and reproduced. By building a library of pre-defined content of reusable system parts or project components, along with their respective documentation, such as circuit diagram macros or PLC program components, you considerably reduce project planning overheads, simplify production and improve engineering quality. This too is the promise of The Smart Factory.
SEE ALSO: Why Creating a Smart Factory Makes Dollars and Sense
Connect to Their Customers
While IIoT brings sweeping changes to the manufacturing process, it can also keep manufacturers better connected to their customers. In an age where customer service is a valuable customer acquisition and retention tool, enhancing what you offer post-sale can be a real game changer. This is most definitely something you don’t want the competition to offer.
In a traditional model, a machine would come to the buyer with a warranty insuring against failure within a particular period. When a company can build a Smart Machine that includes self-monitoring and self-maintenance functionality, it can improve the performance and life of the equipment, providing better value.
It also opens the door for remote maintenance. Having the ability to share and analyze data from the Smart Machine means better predictive maintenance, such as detecting rising lubricant temperature as a sign of increased friction on bearings in real time, helping the customer avoid costly unscheduled downtime.
These are just a few of the ways that IIoT is revolutionizing manufacturing. Companies that prepare for this future are assured of having a step up over their competition. And that is intelligence you don’t want your competition to know.
