IIoT: A paradigm shift of future manufacturing

By OEM Update Editorial June 12, 2018 12:32 pm IST

Meenu Singhal,
VP – Industry Business, Schneider Electric India
IIoT will see industry move from device-centric plants with simple diagnostics and fixed device capacities to digital, user-centric plants that accommodate multiple information sources, mobile equipment, mobile control and analytics.

Future look for IIoT in manufacturing
Industrial Internet of Things or IIoT has a significant role to play in the way manufacturing industry will shape up. The technological advancements have enabled a new trend towards ‘smart manufacturing’ which is driving a huge transformation.

Talking about the future look for IIoT in manufacturing, Meenu Singhal, Vice President – Industry Business, Schneider Electric India, said, “IIoT will see industry move from device-centric plants with simple diagnostics and fixed device capacities to digital, user-centric plants that accommodate multiple information sources, mobile equipment, mobile control and analytics.”

Industrial businesses are facing a multitude of challenges – increased market pace and pressures, huge order of magnitude cost reductions that can only be achieved by unprecedented levels of operational efficiency and new demands on safety and cybersecurity, believes Singhal. He adds, “It is digitisation that will play a major role in addressing all of these challenges.”

Networking and intuitive collaboration with the customer are tied to the concept of smart manufacturing ensuring efficiency and safety. With the use of IT, equipment and stations within factories, entire manufacturing enterprises, and networks of suppliers, partners, and customers located throughout the world can be more effectively connected and integrated.

Therefore, in Singhal’s opinion, the entire manufacturing floor – including picking, sorting and conveying systems – must evolve to accommodate more predictive planning and more flexible business needs.

Industries that will drive IIoT adoption in 2018
Innovative IIoT-ready technologies are already delivering safer, smarter, more reliable, and more sustainable energy. For the industries of tomorrow, these innovations must be leveraged at every level – starting from the ground up with the best-connected products, controls that can work locally with autonomy, and also at the edge, and, for business and operational insight, apps, analytics and services that enable the collection and control of data.

According to Singhal, “Manufacturing, energy, maritime, agriculture and chemicals are some of the industries which are likely to drive IIoT adoption in the coming year.”

Extending benefits of IIoT beyond device layer
By extending the benefits of IIoT beyond the device layer, Schneider Electric brings together the building blocks for smarter operations. The development of infrastructure for Cloud-based technology and advancements in connected intelligence brings industries a system architecture and platform for end-to-end IoT enabled solutions. Fostering control and actionable business insights through the power of analytics, and an open, scalable and interoperable architecture that combines connected products, edge control, applications, analytics and services, means industry can embrace the full potential of IIoT.

“Our IIoT technologies are delivered through the EcoStruxure architecture which is designed for smart manufacturing, catering to the evolving digital needs of the manufacturing sector across the globe. EcoStruxure can revolutionise business models for plants and machine builders, thereby increasing profitability and productivity,” informs Singhal.

Additionally, Schneider Electric’s end-to-end software delivers efficiency across the complete life cycle.