According to Statista, the global Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market exceeded $263 billion in 2021. The market is projected to grow significantly in the coming years, reaching approximately $1.11 trillion by 2028.
Popular Industrial IoT Use Cases in Smart Factories
The replacement of human activity with connected devices in many manufacturing processes has fundamentally changed the image of manufacturing.
Remote monitoring: IoT devices can monitor industrial processes without human presence. This solution helps businesses better manage production activities, save operating costs, and ensure quality, especially when operating multiple factories in different locations.
Predictive maintenance and optimization of machinery and equipment performance: By collecting data from sensors (related to temperature, speed, pressure, voltage, etc.) and combining it with data related to operation history, maintenance history, and operation plans, the system can predict failures and schedule service teams to perform maintenance according to the operation plan, thereby minimizing equipment downtime risk and optimizing equipment uptime.
Digital twins: digital copies of equipment and factories, including design, operation, and maintenance data, enable businesses to simulate multiple processes, conduct tests, identify problems and provide remediation without risking or damaging physical assets, and support production planning and optimize equipment and operational uptime.
Ensuring occupational safety: In hazardous work environments, workers can be equipped with smart wearable devices that connect to a control center to measure and detect problems, such as monitoring personal health, determining safe distances from machines, and detecting gas leaks. This can help factories detect problems more quickly and respond promptly.
Obstacles to the application of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology
While the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is transforming the future of industries, implementing this technology can be challenging for businesses. Here are some common challenges businesses face during implementation:
Investment Costs: Implementing Industrial IoT solutions is relatively expensive. While one of the main benefits of Industrial IoT is increased productivity and reduced costs, businesses are uncertain whether the solution will achieve the expected return on investment.
Connectivity: One of the main requirements for applying the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the collection of reliable data from devices. However, there are many reasons why data cannot be collected from legacy devices or devices that do not support data collection or follow different specialized protocols.
Cybersecurity: Industrial IoT devices also present more security vulnerabilities for businesses. When attacked, in addition to losing important data, these devices may be misoperated or shut down, thereby affecting the company's reputation and financial situation.
Employee skills: For many businesses, training or finding new employees who can develop, deploy, and operate modern industrial IoT solutions is a significant challenge.
Implementing an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) strategy: Gradually transforming factories into smart factories
Current Status Assessment: Reviewing the status of equipment systems, production lines, industrial processes, and the various problems faced by the factory. In my country, the level of automation of equipment in many industries may be relatively low, and data access may be restricted or not follow mainstream industry protocols. This is a common reason why enterprises encounter difficulties when adopting Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies.
Define your objectives: After assessing the current state of your factory, you need to identify the problems that Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies can help solve and prioritize areas or processes that have a significant impact on factory production activities. Typically, manufacturing companies need to prioritize some basic issues, such as data collection and real-time monitoring of factory operations. Once you have the data, you can address other issues, such as optimizing operations, predictive maintenance, etc.
Finding partners and solutions: Based on the problem being addressed, businesses need to find suitable partners and technological solutions to have a methodology and roadmap for solving the specific problem. In addition to technical issues, a comprehensive evaluation of the cost and effectiveness of the solutions is also necessary.
Testing and Implementation: For solutions that have a significant impact on factory production operations, small-scale testing is crucial for assessing technical feasibility, compliance with current processes, and economic benefits. Once testing is successful, the enterprise can deploy the solution on a large scale across many different departments.
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology is a crucial factor in the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises. However, many industrial companies lack the relevant talent and are unable to systematically and methodically implement the aforementioned steps. Therefore, companies need to seek professional and experienced digital transformation consulting partners to develop strategies and roadmaps to implement appropriate projects, minimize risks, and ensure the success of digital transformation.
