Each passing year brings with it a new wave of technology that takes us miles ahead of where we were yesterday. Technologies evolve, allowing us to do things hitherto impossible. The two technologies that have got the world excited most today are Virtual Reality (VR) and Internet of Things (IoT).
Internet of Things deals with the ways in which we can apply technology to the smallest of devices so as to make them compatible with other devices. In layman terms, it is the process of interlinking our everyday devices and making them as smart as our mobile phones.
Like every other new piece of technology or prospect that pops up, there is always the quick thought of how this can be applied to a variety of industries. IoT is no exception. And while it’s being touted as the technology for the modern homes, heavy machinery manufacturing sector can also stand to gain a lot from this.
In the word of manufacturing, the manufacturer’s prime objective is always to create a product that would satisfy the customer. Even after that, he must provide the client with the kind of after sales support that would make them happy and proud to have made the choice to go for his products in the first place. Having to manage to produce new materials and components with the repair of others especially for the heavy equipment manufacturer is a herculean task. It needs to be executed well, and here, the question of how IoT can help comes in. So how can the heavy equipment manufacturer prepare for the future of IoT to better benefit him in his business?
For a start, manufacturers of heavy equipment can begin to think about how sensors in their equipment can be of benefit to them. For figuring out the needed repairs and maintenance, perhaps. It is one thing to schedule regular maintenance sessions for equipment, however, to make sure that it is running at optimal capacity and doesn’t suffer from glitches, you need to do more. What if you can have the equipment itself notify you whenever it ‘feels’ that there is something wrong with it before it becomes a much bigger and expensive problem? That’s what IoT can achieve.
For manufacturers, a constant problem is of inventory. You either under stock or buy more than required of a needed component. In either case, the results would tell negatively on your expenses. Now imagine a setup where you have sensors in your warehouse or storage units that monitor the stocks of the various materials that you have at hand. These would work in tandem with sensors monitoring your production process, which in turn will sync with systems tracking real-time market demand and supply. The computer would crunch all that data together and tell you when you whether or not you need to restock! That would surely save you a lot of stress and reduce your bookkeeping worries.
The way in which the Internet of Things can help manufacturers is not limited to storage only but can also be applied to the safety of appliances. In the field, a lot of expensive equipment are bound to get lost or misplaced. But if you had sensors placed on your products, they can be traced back easily, saving you a lot of time spent in fruitless searches, and money for replacements.
Finally, one of the leading causes of accidents within a manufacturing plant is the malfunctioning of vehicles that operate within the premises. Having sensors connected to these also would help you determine how each device is doing, allowing you to track their progress in real-time.
You can also be able to tell how much fuel a machine is using compared to its output and also, of the drivers are behaving differently from what is expected of them. With this kind of information at hand, executive decisions such as maintenance and repairs can be easily made.
Truly, we cannot talk with much surety about how much heavy equipment manufacturers can go to exploit the various possibilities that are provided by the advent of Internet of Things. These are just a few of ways we might see IoT influence the industry. The possibilities are definitely endless. You should be more than ready to have it impact your business for good too.