Industrial Internet of Things The ways manufacturing will improve

Being connected, a.k.a the “Internet of Things” is becoming a part of everyday life, but it is also becoming a part of manufacturing. The fourth Industrial Revolution brought a trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. The communication between machines became faster and the number of devices which are connected to one another has rapidly grown. This type of automation has several advantages, more than one would first assume.

Thanks to the more information which is available for manufacturer’s to work with, a new level of efficiency can be reached. First of all, excluding the factor of human mistakes from gradually more work processes and by having less obstacles given by the needs of manufacturing employees, production can increase rapidly. Second of all, in smart factories (which have already implemented the advancements of Industry 4.0) the down time can be reduced by predicted maintenance, which is based upon need rather than a strictly set time schedules.

But besides efficiency, the new business models are developing as well. Produce and service providers are connecting in new digital value chains or, when a company has sufficient resources, manufacturer’s can enter new market segments by offering new types of product services. In Huawei’s ICT Insights more information can be found on Product-Service Hybrids. The opportunities which open up thanks to these new services can materialize in a higher profit for those who take advantage of them.

While from a business point of view, Industry 4.0 is doubtably profitable, can these changes effect society in a negative way? Many experts fear, that the expansion of robots will cause a massive cause in the future. While in certain sectors robots will overtake a large amount of tasks which were previously accomplished by humans employees, the change caused by their wide implementation might not be that radical as some think. At the moment there is no proved relationship between a country’s use of robots and the number of manufacturing job lost.  Instead of interpreting the phenomena experienced within the manufacturing as a wave job loss, it makes more sense to look at is a restructuring of the labor market. While the number of certain positions will decrease, other fields, requiring a high-qualification, will have an increase in demand.

By having robots and humans working together, new ideas can be brought to life and highly efficient execution levels, which were previously impossible to reach, can be achieved. Those manufacturers which will embrace the technological advantages of IIoT sooner than others will have a chance to become leaders of this new, dynamic and flexible market.

About the Author:
Molly Connell is responsible for Online Marketing at TradeMachines. As a member of the Berlin-based, fast-growing online start-up – the search engine for used machinery – her job is to enhance brand awareness and visibility.