The internet of Things (IoT) has created a buzz in today’s era. Almost every sector is integrating the benefits of this trending technology, and manufacturing is no exception, creating a new era of informed and smart manufacturing.
As manufacturing is increasingly getting smarter, IoT is playing a vital role in this journey. In the past few years, the industry has undergone various advancements with IoT. Smart manufacturing has now become all about harnessing the power of data and utilizing analytics to enhance the services. IoT in manufacturing has come out to be a boon for the industry to communicate and provide better solutions. With the help of IoT, equipment can be equipped with sensors to gather data to keep track of the process of machine operation.
Enhanced inventory management
IoT in manufacturing has completely transformed the processes regarding inventory management, making it more efficient and seamless. Getting integrated with radio frequency identification (RFID), IoT transforms the data collected by RFID readers into valuable business insights. It offers a record of information related to the product such as location of inventory items, status, supply chain grade and more. Furthermore, based on the data on inventory capacity and location, IoT in manufacturing assists by calculating the number of raw materials for the forthcoming production series. In addition, IoT in manufacturing also enhances the supply chain by increasing the visibility to the managers. It provides estimations of the arrival of materials, available material and working statuses.
Predictive maintenance
Predictive maintenance has come out to be efficient management for machinery maintenance. With IoT in manufacturing, the manufacturers can monitor the operating behavior, performance and environment of the machinery with the help of sensors. This ensures to offer prompt services and repair to all the wear tear predicted by the technology. IoT in manufacturing makes the maintenance more efficient along with offering better work to the technicians and saving substantial cost. With predictive maintenance, the managing team can easily detect the irregularities along with understanding its root cause to prevent machine failures and production delays.
Highly secured operations
When combined with big data analytics, IoT in manufacturing augments the security of workforces, types of machinery and manufacturing processes. It enables to track key performance indicators (KPI). In fact, IoT wearable plays a vital role in this scenario. These devices could help to monitor various health-based conditions of the workers, thereby giving an idea for further improvement of compliance structure.
Greater quality control
IoT in manufacturing for quality control has been more beneficial than conventional processes. It makes the complete process proactive with video sensors to collect complete data of the product via different phases of a product cycle. Furthermore, the products can also be verified at every manufacturing step to check its quality. Also, IoT in manufacturing helps the controlling staff to examine the manufacturing equipment in regards to change in calibration from standard settings to avoid misalignment of products.
Smart packaging
IoT in manufacturing offers advanced benefits in terms of packaging. The major aspect that attracts smart packaging is that it allows the customers to get involved in it. Furthermore, smart packaging produces data to effectively manage the product. Packaging along with IoT works together in different aspects along with QR codes, sensors, and augmented reality.
IoT is promising a lot to the manufacturing industry along with increasing the potential in many aspects. The number of software and services offered by IoT in manufacturing not only ensures the manufacturing companies to provide IoT-based solutions, but also reduces downtime. According to a report published by Allied Market Research, the global IoT in manufacturing market is expected to reach $994 billion by 2023.
IoT in manufacturing has introduced connected operational intelligence and real-time asset monitoring, which assists manufacturers to enhance the manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the advancement in technologies such as smart sensors and virtual and augmented reality propels the market growth. In addition, factors such as low operational cost and an increase in demand for real-time asset monitoring drive the demand for IoT in manufacturing.
The introduction to connected operational intelligence and inadequate IT infrastructure also fuels the growth of the market. Moreover, the growing adoption of cloud-based deployment model and further advancements in the market is anticipated to prosper the industry with a number of opportunities in the near future.