What Manufacturers need to know about the Internet of Things
According to a recent article on Wired.com, one of the biggest manufacturing trends in 2019 will be how the Internet of Things will change the manufacturing industry using state of the art equipment like these CNC plasma cutters with the help of this maintenance access platform for efficient production.
“The proliferation of smart things has reached critical mass. Products with wireless connectivity (from lightbulbs to thermostats to smart speakers) are more present in people’s homes today than not—one report suggests that 79 percent of U.S. consumers have at least one connected device at home. But the technology actually has its roots in a world that predates the rise of remote control thermostats: industrial manufacturing.” (Wired, 2019)
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) takes wireless technology, voice technology, networked sensors, and “Smart” devices and adds those technologies to the mix on the manufacturing floor. These technologies give manufacturers the ability to collect exact data, better prepare predictive analytics, and drive artificial intelligence on the floor.
The adoption of IIoT is driving a massive disruption in a “legacy” industry that’s struggled in recent decades as many manufacturers have left the US, but IIoT can help transform the future of manufacturing right here in the US. It will improve production speed, make factories more efficient, improve safety, speed up the supply chain, and in some cases, save millions of dollars in resources as manufacturers shift some budget to AI.