“To measure is to know. If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it”
- Lord Kelvin, physicist.
A flood of data streaming in from various data-enabled assets and sensors is not, in itself, especially valuable.
The real value of IIoT lies in integrating and analysing the right data, then acting on those insights to make improvements.
The core purpose of IIoT is to improve production and maintenance, by leveraging data captured from industrial equipment and related processes.
There’s no value in collecting data for the sake of it. In order to help make evidence-based or data-led decisions, an IIoT platform will capture the most effective data, then use its in-built analytics to interrogate it.
When you’re first getting started with IIoT, it’s important not to overwhelm yourself with too much information. Having a lot of data at your fingertips is only useful if you know what to do with it; otherwise, you risk missing important details because you simply don’t know what you should be looking for.
That’s why the modular approach employed by RS Industria is so handy. Starting with what keeps you awake at night – be it high energy costs, emissions, downtime, waste or production yield – you can pinpoint the asset that would be most useful to gain insight from. Once you’ve alleviated your pain points with data-led decisions, you can roll out the solution to the next asset.
For example, you might have a pump that vibrates far more than it should. How can an IIoT platform help?
Simply knowing about the excessive vibration won’t provide any answers – you need to understand the cause and how significant it is.
An IIoT implementation, focused on this single process, can analyse the data streaming in from the pump’s sensors. This information will reveal insights into whether there is a mechanical or hydraulic problem – giving you the vital evidence needed to take remedial action.
Further value from IIoT can be extracted when the data is not only analysed to assess machinery performance, but used to predict potential future failures.
Perhaps, with the vibrating pump, you originally reacted by shutting equipment down if it reached a certain vibration level. However, with the help of IIoT, you can predict when a piece of equipment might be about to reach those levels - before it actually happens.
This is IIoT success in action. It’s enabled you to reach a point where you can actively make decisions and drive continuous improvement, based on insights from your data.
Once the benefits are realised from one project, you can expand the IIoT platform to other assets and processes, leading to boosted operational efficiency, improved reliability, and increased factory sustainability.
Ready to learn more?
Read on to ‘Case Study: Preventing Conveyor Failure – RS Components’ Nuneaton Distribution Centre’.