Issue link: https://industrialengineer.epubxp.com/i/777540
44 ISE Magazine | www.iise.org/ISEmagazine The industrial IoT can monitor critical machinery F For quite some time now, in- dustrial engineers have lever- aged connected computing advances to help manufactur- ing facilities run more effi- ciently. However, the industri- al internet of things (IIoT) is expanding manufacturing automation even fur- ther by connecting industrial systems to make automation smarter. This will help ensure critical machinery is up and running and is reliable, minimiz- ing costs, maximizing productivity and moving the enterprise toward predictive maintenance. The main goal of every business is to provide a product or service to a cus- tomer. And if you can provide a bet- ter product or service, you can provide more value to your customer. By adding connected capability, you can provide your workforce with alerts that tell employees to service, replace or repair equipment, preventing costly downtime or high maintenance costs for pumps, valves and filters. The internet of things (IoT) is not only up in the cloud, as the power of data and analytics can be delivered right to a smartphone in an operator's or owner's hand, changing how business is done forever. Think big, start small It's important to think big but start small. Identify the products or bad ac- tors that are high enough in value or have high enough maintenance costs to warrant the costs of "connecting" them to inform the broader group of requisite people about their health and service schedule. Consider pumps, water meters and industrial valves. These products may be remote or located on the shop floor or manufacturing plant. It is clear that connected remote products and assets provide optimized route schedules and reduce lengthy downtime, but products in the factory or shop floor can connect beyond the local operator to the super- visor or local maintenance technician. For example, data could help manag- ers assign tasks to drivers to ensure that they take the most efficient route. Sen- sors also allow managers to monitor the location of trucks to reduce congestion in the warehouse and prevent violation of safety rules, such as speed limits. Focus on improving customer service through measurement or monitoring your product and acting on that data – you want to change behaviors, not con- duct a science experiment. For example, sensors can alert you if there's a prob- lem on a piece of equipment, giving you time to address it before it shuts down your entire operations for the day. The timely alert ensures that your customer order is completed on deadline. Convince your leadership and em- ployees that this is to improve customer retention and differentiation, not to re- place field, service or factory employees. When you embrace change, it is not just noise, but exciting and meaningful. The IoT technology stack historically has come from the global proliferation of smartphones. The billions of units have commoditized all the relevant components of this minicomputer in your hand, from processors to cameras to sensors. These sensors have been re- purposed and designed into "connected things." IoT is further enabled by cheap com- puting power and storage through what we call cloud infrastructure. It has been stated that today an African chief has more computing power in his pocket than the entire White House during President Bill Clinton's two terms. Sensors emit data to the cloud, and reporting, data analysis and applications are pulled to produce meaningful in- formation. That information, in turn, should be used to influence human be- havior (such as driving route optimi- zation or maintenance scheduling) to optimize business performance. The en- abling technology should create specific, measurable action, not conduct a science experiment. Figure 1 details a schematic of the IoT technology stack. Taking advantage of the IIoT Many systems within a manufacturing plant are intranet connected. However, much of the data collected from those FIGURE 1 Building a technology stack The seven layers of the internet of things