Smart Industry 1/2018

and even personal mobile devices
can be added to this growing list of IPenabled
devices.
These connected things become the
tools for a better understanding of all
the factory’s complex processes – and
then using that knowledge to more
rapidly adapt to change. Smarter
machines can be better controlled,
thereby increasing efficiency, in what
has come to be called “plant-wide
optimization.”
When it’s a success, IoT is often a combination
of connectivity with realtime
analytics and new cloud services.
The result can include an increase in
manufacturing output, higher uptimes,
more flexible manufacturing, and lower
costs from the consolidation of siloed
systems and proprietary networks.
Securing the new architectures from
attack is becoming more important as
more of the factory floor devices get
connected. Hooking up these devices
to the whole enterprise is a noble goal
but it means an increasing number of
operations can become the focus of
attacks. Reducing risk in today’s largely
unprotected plants is the direct result
of bringing in new security solutions.
Still questions proliferate. Can IoT help
with deploying a converged network
infrastructure? Help manufacturers
improve business performance? Simplify
the network architecture and
build IT-friendly machines?
Those advocating IoT inside the factory
are looking for some key goals:
Lowering total cost of ownership:
A single network architecture and
open standards help to eliminate the
costs associated with multiple isolated
networks and proprietary systems.
Improve operational responsiveness:
Deeper insight into operations
and real-time collaboration between
manufacturing, engineering, and
suppliers improves the quality of
decisions and helps manufacturers
to quickly and efficiently adapt to
changing business requirements and
supply-chain management needs.
Reduce time to market: By replacing
a multi-tier networking strategy with
one standard network architecture,
OEMs can reduce the time it takes to
design, develop, and deliver machines.
Manufacturers, meanwhile, can reduce
their time to market with fewer integration
risks and better visibility into data.
Protect critical manufacturing systems:
The development of a comprehensive
security model while
enabling secure information visibility
and access across production lines.
Putting it all together
Factory wireless
solutions create new
flexible communication
opportunities between
things, machines,
databases, and people
throughout the plant
Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler,
says that the pace of acceleration in
manufacturing is changing so quickly
that he expects to see more changes on
the factory floor in the next ten years
than we’ve seen in the last 100 years.
If you look at the movement toward
smart manufacturing, many leading
companies are deploying new, more
intelligent, connected machines driving
significant output and productivity
gains as substantial as in previous
industrial revolutions, like the impact
of the steam engine. It’s a pretty
exciting time in manufacturing.
It’s time to look at the Internet of
Things as a key enabler in manufacturing,
not just the trends but some
concrete solutions and use cases that
can be deployed to help get started in
capturing some of that value.
Looking at what’s connected today,
it is apparent that an inflection point
was passed near the beginning
photo ©: Fanuc
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