According to a recent IoT For All article by Brian Harrison, “[t]he factory of the future, in which all conceivable devices are connected with their intelligence and autonomy and each plant process is constantly optimized through sophisticated real-time analytics, has long been the utopia of industrial automation.”
After all, what manufacturer doesn’t want to be as efficient and productive as possible? Harrison notes that these new advanced automation technologies “promise to unlock unseen levels of productivity and efficiency while removing the need for humans to carry out many of the more repetitive or labor-intensive tasks required, potentially saving organizations vast amounts of money and time.”
However, all you have to do is look at the current state of modern manufacturing to know that “the idea of the smart factory is not yet a reality for all.” While many manufacturers have embraced new automation technologies, others have yet to do so, citing both the cost of technology and inability to hire skilled workers that know how to use these technologies as reasons.
Harrison acknowledges that “[i]t takes time, planning, and often significant investment to radically modernize an entire plant from the ground up.” But maybe “a radical rebuild is not necessary to start embracing the benefits of Industry 4.0.”
What if, instead, manufacturers started small and built up their capabilities over time? According to Harrison, “[i]ncremental improvements, such as adding condition monitoring capabilities to existing equipment can unlock a vast potential for savings across the areas of efficiency, productivity, and reliability throughout the plant.”
The author argues that manufacturers “can implement condition monitoring without substantially rethinking existing processes, and you can roll it out on a much smaller scale to embrace the efficiency, reliability, and productivity savings promised by Industry 4.0, at a fraction of the cost.”
Doing so “offers greater visibility over running processes. Digital connectivity provides real-time or near-real-time insight into asset health, allowing maintenance teams to focus their efforts where needed and avoid expending resources unnecessarily. It can also prevent large amounts of downtime by flagging and fixing potential issues before they turn into failures.”
Harrison urges manufacturers to “[a]ttach sensors to legacy equipment to measure health, tracking metrics like vibration, temperature, and power signatures for a comprehensive view, avoiding manual component inspection. Measuring and analyzing assets remotely improves plant safety in hazardous areas without endangering personnel.”
Incorporating condition monitoring into manufacturing processes allows manufacturers to transition from reactive maintenance to predictive maintenance. Over time, manufacturers can add more technologies, such as manufacturing execution systems and enterprise asset management systems to more thoroughly take advantage of data being collected.
Harrison concludes that “condition monitoring enables companies to start small, and grow digital capabilities gradually in a more manageable and cost-effective way. This also allows you to prioritize assets in a way that provides the best return on investment. From there, you can expand condition monitoring programs to other operations, and before you know it, much of the plant will be connected.”
Of course, part of the transition to Industry 4.0 has to be upskilling current workers and/or hiring new workers with the skills necessary to operate, maintain, troubleshoot, and repair a wide variety of advanced automation systems. How can manufacturers accomplish this?
Today, more and more employers are looking for workers with industry-standard certifications that prove they have the skills needed. For example, if workers possess a certification from the Smart Automation Certification Alliance (SACA), employers can feel confident they’ve already proven they have the knowledge and hands-on skills needed for working with advanced smart automation technologies. SACA has been hard at work collaborating with industry leaders to develop a wide variety of industry-standard certifications that will help employers find workers who possess the advanced connected-systems skills they need to take their businesses to the next level. Be sure to check out SACA and all it has to offer!
