IOT and smart manufacturing

In early June 2015, new documents from Edward Snowden were issued about the government’s surveillance of Americans. Specifically it looked at Internet traffic that the government could use to allegedly track foreign hackers. Recent reports explain its implications as “…the NSA has expanded its Internet surveillance in the U.S. to track down people abroad who are trying to track – to hack – into Americans’ computers… it’s being carried out under a law that Congress passed seven years ago… and White House spokesman Josh Earnest says it’s known as Section 702 of that law.”

According to Earnest, Section 702 provides the authority to target non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States in order to acquire foreign intelligence information under court oversight. So now the government has to figure out what to do with all this data they can legally collect, or at least legally collect for now.

While a manufacturer might not be collecting every ounce of data about its customers, such as the U.S. government, the transformation of manufacturing is turning to collecting as much data about operations as possible.

To many, the Internet of Things (IoT) sounds futuristic or that it belongs in the movies and not on the shop floor. However, it’s real. According to IDC’s Market Spotlight on Transforming Manufacturing with the Internet of Things, manufacturers are increasingly adding software, sensors, and wireless connectivity to their products. The brief goes on to note key reasons that manufacturers invest in IoT are: complex, dynamic value chains; emerging market growth; traceability, transparency, brand, and reputation; demanding customers; converging technologies for manufacturing; ubiquitous connectivity; and truth in data.

Also mentioned are the challenges manufactures are facing in workforce management, which fall along two basic components: shortage of expertise and technology savvy. The good news here is that predictions show technology-savvy workers will benefit from wearable devices and other IoT-enabled technological advancements deployed on the manufacturing shop floors and in the supply chain. Effective factory management is essential to be competitive in today’s manufacturing environment. The IoT pushes manufacturers to embrace smart manufacturing and understand how to use all that data collected. It must be noted that all this data can be overwhelming if there’s not a plan in place regarding how it is used and what it means. That plan needs to combine new and old data with analytics-driven insight to deliver flexibility and decision-making – from the executive office down to the plant floor.

The report continues that, “The IoT-enabled operational intelligence platform should bridge real-time information coming from the machine level with transactional business intelligence that sits on top of enterprise applications. This, over time, should allow manufacturers to ‘see’ across products, materials, and back office information.”

What are you seeing with regard to the impact the IoT is having in your operations? How are you handling all the data being collected? I’d love to hear how you are embracing, or shying away from change – and we won’t call you Snowden if you admit to collecting data.

– Elizabeth