IoT has already started the 4.0 industrial revolution, a new wave of technological changes where manufacturing production will become more and more networked, until everything is interlinked with everything.
IoT makes it possible to anticipate the needs of buyers, connecting different stages of production and obtaining information in real time. It has the key for efficiency, reliability, and availability to make the production and manufacturing sector more competitive.
The application of new technologies in the manufacturing sector allows companies to offer better quality and retain the consumer. The main trends in manufacturing brace through the reduction of errors in manufacturing processes and the creation of more efficient and more flexible factories.
To reduce the number of errors, returns and complaints from customers, quality has to be a key point. In order to do this, invest in improving automatic control points in production is essential to locate faults, evaluate and correct them. This will improve the quality of the product and the confidence of the users in the brand
Digitalization consists of transforming manufacturing operations using the latest technology. The amount of new equipment sold with integrated sensors has grown exponentially in recent years, and it does not appear that this trend will change. The sensors are increasingly higher quality and less expensive, which makes it possible to enable the oldest equipment for IoT. Compilation and analysis of the massive volume of data generated by the sensors is possible thanks to the current low cost of connectivity to transmit this data, the cost of the cloud and the power of big data.
The benefits of digitally enabled manufacturing can include:
- Be able to make decisions by providing information in real time to avoid interruptions in the production process.
- Detect and anticipate quality problems, anticipating serious equipment incidents thanks to predictions by sharing.
- Maximize asset performance and uptime
- Reduce or prevent certain forms of waste, thanks to information about production metrics.
- Adapt with greater agility to market demands.
- Improve visibility and process control.
- Reduce production costs by identifying inefficiencies.
At this point, it’s clear to see that IoT will play an important role in manufacturing organizations. While the technology selected is important, it’s also important to consider how to do the integration of IoT technology in the manufacturing environment, deployment costs, tag costs and security.