Manufacturing organizations, both discrete and process industries, are engrossed in firing up their systems and processes to win the digital transformation race and get straight into Industry X.0. However, being an asset-intensive industry inching super close to commoditization in most verticals, every manufacturer needs all the technology-enabled differentiators possible to give them an edge in this competitive ecosystem. Efficient and cognitive asset management capability is a critical differentiator that tops the wish list for most manufacturers, and IoT is the most critical enabler that drives this capability across all industrial applications.
IoT supports effective implementation of every brilliant innovation, from AI to augmented reality, on the production floor by connecting intelligent assets (people, devices, and processes) and harnessing the data captured from these assets to derive meaningful insights. These data insights easily help navigate today’s factory environment through smooth asset management, in terms of tracking, remote monitoring, utilization, and predictive maintenance. The benefits of real-time, IoT-enabled asset management are humungous, including exponential increase in productivity, worker safety, cost savings, visibility, and minimizing asset downtime.
However, four critical differentiators of IoT-enabled asset management are a clear standout.
Higher productivity
IoT enables continuous asset monitoring by mapping critical asset performance parameters to sensors connected to the assets. This approach minimizes instances of asset downtime and failures. As a result, equipment maintenance becomes easy. Simple to critical problems detected and alerted during early stages saves costs from shutdowns and unanticipated production delays. IoT also contributes to increased lifespan of devices, improved regulatory compliance, efficient production planning, smart scheduling, and complete visibility of IoT-enabled devices.
Asset optimization is indeed one of the key contributors to high productivity. Hence having a round-the-clock real-time supervision of asset performance, including process, staff, equipment, inventory, and completed goods, ensures that the right asset is available at the ideal time to perform the expected operation to its maximum potential. With the added capability of instantly diagnosing potential issues and cognitively delivering possible options, IoT is indeed the perfect buddy for disaster prevention and management.
Higher productivity means zero delays in production, efficient production turnarounds, smart performance parameters, admirable process efficiency with minimal interruptions, improved speed of equipment repair, minimal instances of regulatory compliance failures, reduced cost of production, and high output quality.
Remote monitoring
With IoT sensors and cognitive capabilities, you can monitor assets to access data insights from anywhere in the world. This real-time, anywhere, anytime, and any device access to asset data helps manage your manufacturing schedules even in your absence. The real-time insights from the monitored assets are delivered in easy-to-comprehend formats across customized and intuitive dashboards. These dashboards also come with drill-down options to dig down any extent of details when required. Thus, your dashboard gives you instant visibility across all your plant assets even when you are on the move. This ability optimizes the overall performance of the plant processes, providing enhanced process outcomes.
Security
With every innovation in this digital era comes the fear of security lapses. This fear is common in IoT-based asset management too – especially since the concept is cloud-based. Compliance with stringent regulations, defining strict automation protocols, and permission-based network access, are some of the successful approaches that ensure secure data-based IoT transactions.
Another aspect of the security concern is the question about how IoT-based asset monitoring ensures worker safety. Yes, workers are the prized assets of every production floor. Hence IoT-based solutions such as smart tags, and geo-location markers enable secured access and track worker locations at sites. Immediate alerts of potentially dangerous worker ambiance helps supervisors to respond in real time. This IoT-driven capability is critical in managing the workforce efficiently
Zero need for additional skill sets
With every technological transformation comes the dreaded exercise of adoption. This stage often requires every employee and stakeholder to devote time and effort in understanding and adopting the new technology. However, IoT-driven asset management is quite a straightforward solution with simple protocols. Hence IoT solutions require very little upgrade in terms of learning new skill sets. In addition, the HCM team does not have to run around capturing new JDs and find new talent. Customization options support configuring these solutions to fit the specific requirements of any production floor. The technology used spreads wide from simple barcodes and QR codes to updated GPS and beacons.
IoT-enabled asset management – a necessity more than an option
IoT can no longer be called a budding technology. It has spread far and wide and is critical for any manufacturer embarking on a digital transformation journey. IoT-enabled asset management is the first critical step manufacturers need to take to monitor their assets’ performance. This approach also helps them implement other cognitive solutions to empower their production floors. By ignoring this first step in digital transformation, manufacturers will only be falling behind in this competitive landscape. Of course, the choice is yours – would you want efficiency and productivity or would you prefer slow death?
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