The Role Played by IIoT in Modern Manufacturing Systems

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) serves as the pillar and the basis for all smart manufacturing or industrial 4.0 solutions. At the basic level, IIoT works as a type of middleware by offering a communication support between devices, controllers, sensors, machines, information systems, databases and people. In this way IIoT ensures smart manufacturing objectives are achieved at the plant level.

In helping smart manufacturers attain their goals, IIoT collects data from different sources in real time and provides data to those devices, controllers, machines and people that require it. In other words, IIoT is used to monitor, manage and maintain the connected devices and systems.

IIoT allows AI and machine learning to be deployed in edge devices i.e. devices employed in industrial edge computing. IIoT allows these edge devices to access more data and data context, hence helping them acquire more intelligence.

Another area in manufacturing where IIoT serves a key role is in manufacturing execution systems (MES) where it provides real time data and data context which combines with data from enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, quality management system (QMS), product lifecycle management (PLM), and so forth. These all help create a full picture of the overall manufacturing status and objectives, to establish what necessary corrections may be made so as to plan out operations and changes that need to be done to enhance optimization of the operations.

One of the other key roles played by IIoT is in item identification, tracking and tracing in manufacturing. Methods that might be employed in item identification include barcodes or RFID, among many other technologies. IIoT enhances item identification by backing it up with the data and data context of the item from a particularly end of the manufacturing process to the other end.

The above mentioned areas are some of the foundational applications for IIoT in manufacturing. Many other technologies in manufacturing like AI, machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, digital twins, etc. rely on IIoT. It is without a shadow of a doubt to state that IIoT is an important feature that you are unlikely to miss in modern day manufacturing systems and as we move into future IIoT will continue to play an essential function as the backbone of advanced manufacturing systems.

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