What Is Industrial IoT and What Does It Include?
The industrial internet of things (IoT) refers to a system of sensors and other electronics joined across a network using internet connectivity. This system of interconnected devices produces data that can be analyzed and used in a range of applications within the industrial sector.
Some industrial IoT solutions examples include remote real-time monitoring, asset condition monitoring, and predictive maintenance. These features help businesses drive decision-making, improve process optimization, and decrease energy consumption.
Remote Real-Time Monitoring
Ben Franklin said it best: Nothing is certain except death and taxes. However, modern technology has unearthed a third — the cloud. The advent of the cloud and cloud applications (vs. edge computing) using wireless connectivity has revolutionized how we connect with data and the world around us.
As consumers, we have grown so accustomed to having real-time, remote access to nearly all of our data that anything less dynamic would be considered old-fashioned. If we expect this light-speed, remote control delivery of data from things such as our news, social media, and text messages, we can certainly demand it from our IoT industrial solutions.
Although the technology behind Smart Buildings has evolved, many IoT platforms remain stubbornly rooted in the past. Cloud-based, remote monitoring in real time is what separates a fresh, cutting-edge service from those who take a more lazy, antiquated approach. While offering this capability might seem painfully obvious, it might surprise you to learn that not every company advertising industrial IoT solutions actually does.
The importance of this feature cannot be overstated. Many workers, from building engineers to energy managers, shoulder duties that cannot be carried out solely on-site. Restricting data, visualizations, and alerts to workers with in-house access makes any business seem dangerously out of date with one proverbial foot in the grave.
Asset Condition Monitoring
Asset Condition Monitoring (ACM) is a service provided by reputable industrial IoT solutions companies that can lead to substantial savings starting almost immediately. ACM allows businesses to track their assets' data in real-time using sensors to create targeted, intentional visualizations and analytics. This analysis can then generate predictive maintenance plans that are important to any program designed to boost asset longevity and smart energy usage across an access network.
But the benefits of ACM include more than just a solid foundation for a predictive maintenance plan. Asset life cycles can be more easily predicted, future purchases can be better assessed, and the decision to repair or dispose of assets can be made with greater confidence. Within any industrial company, this increases workflow efficiency, which leads to cost savings.
Predictive Maintenance
Essentially, predictive maintenance allows industrial companies to anticipate any issues with industrial assets before they arise. Predictive maintenance can equal massive savings for any forward-thinking business. Gone are the days when costly emergency maintenance activities are the norm.
Another key advantage to predictive maintenance is that it allows companies to utilize work downtime to perform routine maintenance. Too many industrial companies have had to invest their precious work hours performing unplanned repairs or maintenance due to poor or nonexistent asset condition monitoring and predictive maintenance plans.
Other benefits of properly executed predictive maintenance include more intentionally prioritized work orders, more streamlined workflows for those who work directly with the equipment, and a clearer timeline for purchasing new assets when necessary.
How Can Industrial Companies Benefit From Smart Technology?
Simply put, smart technology works hard so businesses don't have to. Using smart technology, business owners can shift their focus to their customers and the motivations that propelled them to start their business in the first place. The result is better data, improved processes, and lowered energy consumption. Smart technology can also give insight the indoor air quality (IAQ) of buildings and other spaces.
Provide Companies With the Advanced Analytics Needed To Make Informed Decisions
Taking a shot in the dark and hoping for the best might work for barroom darts, but industrial companies want the security of a foreseeable profit margin with minimal risk. The sensible, actionable path is to take advantage of advanced data analytics. To this end, sensor technology is essential to any industrial IoT solutions package. Sensors provide invaluable data that can provide these analytics.
Improve Process Optimization
When remote real-time monitoring, asset condition monitoring, and predictive maintenance are put into place, the results can be impressive. Streamlined workflows, maximized resources, and intentional outcome-based use of operational dollars are all results an industrial company can count on. When these processes are optimized, more time can be spent on planning for business growth, customer feedback programs, product improvement, and other internal organizational goals.
Decrease Energy Consumption by Equipment
Deploying industrial IoT solutions in enterprise environments drastically reduces the organization's equipment's energy consumption. When a business has access to real-time data on the energy usage of industrial assets, its sustainability professionals and energy managers can develop a plan to maximize the energy needed to run and maintain them. Becoming truly sustainable in energy consumption is almost entirely reliant upon receiving real-time data that can easily be delivered using sensor technology.
Upgrade Your Industrial Applications With Sensor Technology
Sensory technology provides a range of information that can help drive your company's decision-making and predictions for profit and growth. Among other things, sensors can:
- Monitor environmental temperatures and pressures. This information can be used to regulate systems at their optimal temperature, increase security by detecting pressure, and improve the quality of the air indoors. IAQ is a critical factor in the overall health of our bodies.
- Sense motion and proximity. Thermal detection ensures the safety of an area with restricted access.
- Facilitate predictive sensor data analysis through direct asset monitoring. Sensors can help predict everything from industrial asset maintenance and longevity to inventory forecasts.
See how Senseware can help with your IoT industrial solutions and sensory needs.