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Technology is taking over manufacturing, with 80% of manufacturing executives planning to invest in smart initiatives, according to Deloitte. You may be thinking of robots lugging heavy materials across factory floors and working in environments too dangerous for humans. But smart factories are so much more.
Industrial IoT manufacturing involves a system of interconnected devices that collect and analyze real-time data. IoT sensors on your machines and throughout your plant make your team more productive and enhance operational efficiency. Move beyond robot pickers and build a smart factory that gets results.
What is Industrial IoT and Why it Matters in Manufacturing
Industrial IoT (IIoT) refers to a system of sensors, edge processing devices, and software that monitors operational data to improve efficiency and enhance worker safety. This network serves as a window into your equipment, energy, and environmental conditions. Only in this case, it’s okay to spy.
Traditional manufacturing involved checking machines, energy usage, environmental conditions, and even quality manually. Your foreman or managers would walk the floor every day, making notes on a clipboard and entering the data later.
IioT sensors collect data in real time and transmit it to a single platform. For example, sensors on machines will measure temperature, vibration, and other performance metrics and alert you to potential maintenance issues. You can fix them before the spiral and take your machine down for a week. These sensors also spot deviations that could impact product quality.
Energy use monitors show you which areas in your building are sucking energy and draining your bank account. Indoor air quality (IAQ) monitors detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and adjust the ventilation to keep your workers safe.
How IoT Sensors Power Real-Time Manufacturing Insights
Industrial IoT in smart manufacturing varies across industries, but you will see common sensors, including:
Temperature: Keep your workers and your machines from overheating with temperature sensors.
Vibration: Detect potential mechanical issues in your machines before the machine starts shaking with vibration sensors.
Humidity: Quality manufacturing depends on humidity control. These sensors protect your factory from static damage, condensation, mold, and rust.
Pressure: Install these monitors on pumps, boilers, HVAC systems, and machines to detect pressure anomalies to prevent leaks and explosions and optimize energy use.
Power Meters: Learn where your factory is using power inefficiently with these sensors.
VOC/PM Sensors: Keep your workers healthy by consistently monitoring VOCs and particulate matter in the air.
Each of these sensors transmits data to a local network through a gateway, which transmits it to a cloud-based platform that displays data and analytics dashboards. Using a local network reduces your lag time and enables factory-floor decisions. In manufacturing, this lag time could mean the difference between a dangerous machine breakdown and a successful fix.
Predictive Maintenance and Equipment Performance Monitoring
One of the misconceptions about building portfolio analytics is that your systems aren’t connected. But analyzing machine-level data and environmental data together paints a clearer picture. Considering machine data on its own is like looking at a Picasso. You know what it is, but not necessarily what it means. Looking at all your data is more like a photograph. You can see clearly and assess the situation.
For example, when your IAQ sensors alert you to high level VOCs on the factory floor, you might think something is wrong with the HVAC. But if you’re also seeing alerts on the vibration and machine temperature sensors, you can check gaskets, pumps, and connectors on the machine. One of them is likely broken.
Vibration, temperature, and current sensors on each machine also give you early warning signs of equipment failure. If your machine has developed a fever, you can fix it before it turns into full-blown pneumonia.
IoT in industrial manufacturing also analyzes historical data and detects patterns. You can schedule maintenance based on each machine’s condition instead of at standard times.
Environmental Monitoring to Protect Product Quality
Industrial IoT in commercial buildings isn’t limited to your machines. Conditions on the factory floor impact product quality. You wouldn’t want to check out a library book someone dropped in the bathtub. Your customers won’t want to buy products warped by environmental conditions either.
Humidity: Low humidity makes the factory staticky, which is fun for shocking your coworkers, but not for quality products. High humidity can cause condensation buildup, rust, and warping.
Temperature: Temperature impacts materials, dimensions, and quality. In pharmaceuticals, extreme heat or cold can stop medications from working. In food processing, high temperatures can spoil food.
VOCs: High VOC levels can make your workers sick. They can also degrade product materials and alter a product’s appearance.
Particulate Matter: When you’re working with products that require precision, such as semiconductors, particulates can make the final product defective.
Air Quality: Bad air quality can damage equipment and spoil perishable products.
Real-time IAQ and environmental sensors help you maintain product quality. If you’re working in highly sensitive environments, such as food processing and pharmaceuticals, some of your work happens in clean rooms. Monitoring environmental conditions in these areas helps you stay in compliance with strict sterilization requirements.
Energy Optimization and Operational Efficiency
Industrial IoT applications and benefits aren’t limited to factory conditions. You also see cost savings and reduced emissions. Energy monitoring systems tell you which machines and systems are using the most energy. They can also automate HVAC and lighting systems to adjust based on occupancy or environmental conditions, so you’re not paying to light an unused room.
See where your team may be leaving machines running or when you’re doing high-energy activities during peak billing hours. Use this data to adjust procedures and become more energy-efficient.
If you’re working in an industry with environmental and sustainability regulations, you have to do ESQ reporting to stay in compliance. IioT in industrial manufacturing tracks your emissions and gives you critical data for your reports.
It also shows you which parts of your process are impacting the environment. You can analyze these processes in depth and make changes that lower your impact.
Add Attune’s air quality, water usage, and energy consumption sensors to your smart manufacturing system. Schedule a demo to see how these tools can enhance operations and worker safety.
