Remember when connectivity and Big Data were the buzzwords of the moment? Well there’s a new kid in town called the Internet of Things (IoT).
Based on the media hype, you’d think it’s the technological equivalent of the Second Coming. For manufacturing, they call it “Industrial IoT” or “Industry 4.0.” In either case it’s predicted to be disruptive.
Traditionally, I’ve been contrarian about things the mass media predicts to be a big deal and IoT is no different. IoT will not disrupt industry in America or anywhere else.
The root of my conclusion is based in how the mass media misunderstands modern industry. Here at ENGINEERING.com we receive press releases daily and the number of PR agencies that describe the wonders of computer numerical control is remarkable. It’s clear most had never heard of it before.
The sad fact is, the majority of people in media and a surprising number of engineers have never visited a modern manufacturing facility. As a result, they base their opinions on decades old images of Detroit or Boeing assembly operations.
I recently received a press release that touted how IoT will allow machine tools to communicate with the front office as they wear or break, as if this capability hasn’t been available for years in modern multi-axis machining centers.
The current, pre-IoT, state-of-the-art in manufacturing includes extensive process monitoring through both analog and digital sensors, usually wired through internal Ethernet systems reporting to an engineering or maintenance office on site. Even older facilities typically have a system that alerts personnel to line stoppages.
The ability of a wireless network-enabled IoT system to tell a millwright that an air compressor just quit by pinging his iPhone is not substantially more productive than a flashing light or an audible under-pressure alarm.
Put simply, modern manufacturing already uses the critical components of the IoT, except without the Internet.
So what’s the big deal? Industrial IoT will only make a difference going forward if it can achieve two things:
1. Lower the cost of aggregating machines and process performance data compared to the current wired networks. To date, we have not seen any IoT system that addresses this issue directly.
2. Reporting machine performance directly to suppliers and manufacturers who will in turn use it to improve their designs and boost performance of their products. For example, if electric motor manufacturer can aggregate data about meantime between failures for a specific model over hundreds of applications, it may be possible to infer which applications are hardest on that motor and where design could be improved. Of course it could work the other way by measuring which motors run consistently cooler, allowing a manufacturer to pull cost out of the product, effectively making it less durable.
This may not be the current, conventional wisdom and a new report from SogetiLabs, among others, that suggest IoT is in fact a game changer.
The idea of manufacturing is always to make products that perform better at lower costs. Simulation, data acquisition, computer-aided design and IoT must always be subordinate to that goal.
From where I sit, we’re at risk of losing focus on what really matters. No one cares how you rendered or simulated your product or how efficient your production process really is. All that matters is that you hit your price and performance targets and that’s the way it will always be.
Click here to view SogetiLabs report.