Blog - Industrial IoT Solutions Provider

Make Legacy Machines SMART!

admin — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 10:42:09 +0000

It’s a myth that adoption of industry-4 means getting rid of legacy machines. Almost every manufacturer has legacy machines, and Industry-4 systems have to integrate with these. So it is very important for business leaders to demand this from solution providers and include legacy machines in smart manufacturing initiatives.

Follow few simple steps –

It always starts with business objectives. So identify overall KPIs and outputs required from legacy machines for these KPIs.
Identify a solution provider who has competencies to connect with legacy machines irrespective of their make and model
The solution provider will also help you gather the right data for the right analysis – for example, only machine status (on/off/idle) can give you a lot of insights into productivity
Agree on minimum viable output required and create standard definition to ensure smooth communication across multiple departments and cross functional teams
Do a detail survey of legacy machines. There can be multiple options for connectivity. Do a cost-benefit analysis of these options and decide which is most optimum

Increase value derived from legacy machines and let them be part of digital transformation!

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IIoT helps Lean Six Sigma to achieve a new level of effectiveness

admin — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 06:52:35 +0000

IIoT helps Lean Six Sigma to achieve a new level of effectiveness. The Lean Six Sigma method uses data-oriented techniques to eliminate defects and improve quality in process-driven environments. It combines Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma to eliminate waste in the form of defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing. Smart manufacturing, powered by IIoT, AI, Cloud, enables continuous collection and analysis of data to deliver actionable insights. This has made Lean Six Sigma techniques more relevant – * It allows real-time, efficient analysis of reasonably complex (and non-complex) processes * With digital tools, translation of raw data into actionable insights, which was traditionally done by Black Belts, is now possible in a much faster and accurate way * With #Industry40, decision-making around larger data volumes is not only faster, but it is also better * Sustainable process improvements (aka continuous improvements) are now possible because stakeholders get new insights through real-time alerts helping in maintaining transparency and accountability across the value chain Have any of you collected any metric on this? It will be great if you share findings.

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A positive story in the big, bad world of Air Pollution!

admin — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 07:31:38 +0000

All over the world environmental activist are confronting Governments! That made me think about air pollution in India. The problem is huge and we read about deaths, ill-effects on health and many other grim stories. But I want to tell you a positive story which has been developing without much media attention for last few years. It is about #IndustrialPollution and how Pollution Control Boards are taking steps to monitor and control it. Did you know that state and central pollution control boards have real-time, online visibility into every pollutant of every industry from specific segments? You heard it right. In 2012, #CPCB started developing emissions quality network and notified that major polluting industries like Cement, Steel, Power etc. must report emissions data in real time. Expanse and features of this network are steadily improving for last 6 years. Gone are the days of periodic manual pollution readings. It is now a continuous process. The problem is huge and multi-layered and there are no quick fix solutions, but the journey has begun. Ascent Intellimation is proud to be part of this journey. Our IoT solution, EnviroConnect is used by over 1000 industries to report online emissions data.

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Synergies Between TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and Industry4

admin — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 09:40:00 +0000

Synergies Between TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and Industry4
Do you see synergies between TPM and #Industry4 ? Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) approach aims to optimize factory maintenance to reach a state of perfect production efficiency. No short stoppages, no defects, no unplanned downtime, and no accidents are the 4 main goals of TPM, which can be achieved using an 8-pillar approach to maintenance. #IIOT / #Industry4.0 can help in meeting these goals. * Autonomous maintenance: Connected machines lead to condition monitoring & predictive maintenance * Quality integration: Continuous machine monitoring helps in identification of anomalies & reduce defects * Planned maintenance: IIoT can bring in huge cost savings in this. Adopt Just-In-Time maintenance schedule based on asset ’running hours’ measurement provided by IIoT system. * Safety, health, & environment: Many #IIoT solutions are available for SHE * Focused improvement: Data collection & analysis helps in performing root cause analysis & successful collaboration across departments * Administration: Real-time visibility into operations allow stakeholders in faster decision-making. Let us discuss whether you are maximizing TPM output with help of an #IIoT system and what your experiences are. #TPM #SmartManufacturing #Industry4 #PlantConnect

The post Synergies Between TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) and Industry4 first appeared on Industrial IoT Solutions Provider.

Benefits of #Industry40

admin — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 10:46:28 +0000

The benefits of #Industry40 for the manufacturing industry are pretty clear, and the concept does not need any convincing today. But what does it really mean for the leadership team? Do the leaders need to transform to adapt to the digital culture? I would say definitely yes! Here is how * The leaders need to share their vision very openly and gain support from the team * The leaders need to get the whole organization aligned with the new digital way of working * They need to lead by example * They need to foster collaboration, communication, and innovation within the team * They need to invest heavily in training and education of the existing workforce to help them make the most from the digital initiatives * They need to be agile and flexible – be ready to change the course of action as required * They need to focus on risk management and be prepared for the same How are you preparing your leadership for Smart Manufacturing?

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How to prepare for Smart Manufacturing?

admin — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 06:39:54 +0000

How can companies prepare themselves for #SmartManufacturing?” Here is a quick checklist I would offer to the stakeholders as an answer to this question * Define a strong strategy on what you want to achieve * Rethink all the aspects of the organization structure and processes to get the most out of the investments * Clearly define the business case * Conduct smaller implementations (pilots) before implementing #Industry4.0 for more significant processes * Clearly communicate the actions needed from various stakeholders * Be prepared for change management and have a strong plan for that * Intercommunication and collaboration across multiple departments is required – identify action items to foster that * Identify and address the training needs of the existing workforce * Prepare for the hiring of the new talent as required How are you preparing for Smart Manufacturing?

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Hybrid Edge-Cloud Strategy

admin — Fri, 06 Sep 2019 07:31:47 +0000

Hybrid Edge-Cloud Strategy Cloud has become de-facto destination for data processing and storage in IIoT systems and thus a key enabler for Industry 4.0. However, manufacturers often worry about the loss of connectivity. In such situations, we recommend a hybrid cloud-edge strategy. With this, data processing for time-critical operations happens on the edge (within the factory network), and Cloud is used for data storage, further processing and analysis. It is the best combination of centralized and decentralized models. An example is how we handle machine interlock in PlantConnect SFactory. When a machine goes down, SFactory enforces interlock on machine start which is released only when operator enters downtime reason. This entire operation is handled at the edge by our Edge Gateway and HMI. The many benefits include * Deterministic and consistent experience independent of network connectivity * No dependence on cloud for time-critical operations * High flexibility to move data as per the business needs * Easy implementation of control functions Especially in countries like India, where shop floor connectivity could still be an issue at many places, hybrid cloud-edge strategy works very well. #IIoT #SmartManufacturing #IndustrialIoT #Industry40 #PlantConnect

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Decoding Jargons – 3

admin — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 06:43:41 +0000

Next in the series – today I will talk about “Predictive Maintenance”

Predictive Maintenance is one of the most popular use case of IIoT / Industry 4.0 and probably also one of the most misunderstood. As the word ‘predictive’ suggests IIoT system will ‘predict’ a possible fault and period in which it is likely to occur. Based on this ‘prediction’, maintenance can be done before the asset fails. But how does the system do this prediction?

Popular belief in IoT world is that you need big data and AI/ML for predictive maintenance and yes…this is one of the methods to ‘predict’ maintenance. But you can predict need for maintenance via ‘Condition Monitoring’ as well. Some people term this as ‘Prescriptive Maintenance’. This method relies on expert knowledge and IIoT systems convert this knowledge into rule base that acts like an expert monitoring the asset 24×7. Unlike ML based method, this method yields results right from day 1 as it doesn’t need historical data to ‘learn’ asset condition.

There are many misunderstandings about Predictive Maintenance using ML. Here is a blog that outlines these

The post Decoding Jargons – 3 first appeared on Industrial IoT Solutions Provider.

Smart Manufacturing project costs

admin — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 10:47:31 +0000

One of the most common questions about #Industry4.0 aka #SmartManufacturing is

Q: How much does it cost to implement Industry 4.0?

A: Well, there is no clear answer. But I try to provide some pointers. Various cost heads to be considered

1. Connectivity – new hardware, sensors, PLC upgrades, licenses etc.

2. Edge infrastructure – edge gateways, network, firewalls etc.

3. Cloud infrastructure

4. Solution licensing

5. Supporting software licenses, if any

6. Solution provider’s services

7. Internal costs

I would elaborate a little bit on Internal Costs. Industry 4.0 implementation needs fair amount of investment from the industry in terms of cross functional team that drives the project. This includes defining specs, working with partner on solutioning, FAT, project management etc. Most important is championing the system to users, securing their acceptance, hand holding them and ensuring sustained usage. Then there are training costs for users.

With all this, how to keep the costs down? Based on our experience of helping several manufacturing companies, we always advise to do the implementation in phases – pick up a small process or part of the workflow. Make minimal investment, learn from the experience, see the ROI, and then proceed with larger and wider implementations.

#SmartFactory #Manufacturing #PlantConnect #DigitalFactory

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Decoding The Jargons – 2

admin — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:43:12 +0000

Digital twins represent the virtual replicas of the physical assets and processes. These are equipped with IoT sensors and constantly receive real-time data from the physical objects. With their use in monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics, digital twins can be extremely powerful to drive innovation and performance in manufacturing. Here are some ways manufacturing can use digital twins

* Engineering companies first create digital twins even before the physical product is manufactured. By feeding real-time data to the digital twins, the product design is constantly improved

* By feeding product usage data and different use case scenarios into digital twins companies can improve their ability to provide customization options to meet customer requirements. This brings them closer to ‘mass customized products’

* By getting a clearer picture of real-world performance and operating conditions, manufacturers can leverage digital twins to optimize their uptime and minimize repair costs

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