Leveraging IoT in Manufacturing: A Practical Guide to Digital Transformation

Siemens Digital Industries Software, a company that specializes in the development of customized digital twin solutions to help provide organizations with insights, opportunities, and levels of automation to nurture company-wide innovation, has published a helpful new technical article that focuses on how best to apply the Internet of Things to future manufacturing solutions.

From the company’s summary:

Manufacturers are under pressure to optimize profits and efficiencies while simultaneously reducing costs. The emergence of digitalization and associated technologies are making this feat possible for the electronics manufacturing industry. The IIoT has already gained traction within countless industries, and for industrial electronics manufacturers, it is quickly becoming a business imperative.

Take a logical look into how the IIoT can best be applied for electronics OEMs and equipment manufacturers. The eight IIoT use cases to boost ROI described in this paper begin with the foundational implementations, but then each builds upon the other to drive more and more value.

The following is an excerpt from the paper:

Eight IIoT use cases for machine builders

This section details the top use cases machine builders and OEMs can implement to add the most value and return-on-investment (ROI) to their business. Digitalization and the IIoT can be resource heavy as implementation gets under way, so it is often best to go after the lowest-hanging fruit and then scale up. The following use cases begin with the foundational implementations, but then each builds on the other to drive more value.

Asset management

1. Condition monitoring: Once your assets are connected and streaming data to a centralized IIoT platform, you can perform condition monitoring. Condition monitoring allows you to view specific parameters (for example: temperature, vibration and pressure) and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track operating conditions for all connected assets. If metrics deviate from normal operating conditions on an asset – indicating an issue – the application will alert users.

What is the benefit?

• Proactively identify production line issues and start remedial actions prior to asset failure, which reduces unscheduled downtime
• Maximize the uptime of critical assets
• Gain transparency into asset health and performance across global locations

2. Asset performance management: By monitoring and tracking the condition and status of your machines with KPIs, you can identify which machines are running below peak efficiency and productivity. IIoT-powered asset performance management applications generate automated alerts when a machine moves outside of optimal operating conditions, notifying you to make changes to a production line to enhance performance.

What is the benefit?

• Quickly react to anomalies with real-time alerts that indicate the need for action, reducing unplanned downtime. This accelerates production and creates a positive ripple effect on allocation, time-to-market and customer satisfaction
• Refine baseline KPIs to more precisely determine machine performance
• Continuously adjust machines for performance improvements based on real-time data

Ready the full article: Applying the Internet of Things to Manufacturing