More emerging IIoT trends are anticipated to take over factory floors in 2021

2021 unfolded with bigger hopes among people. Even though we know the current year is just a routine of earth’s mission to revolve around the sun one more time, we all pray for it to be better than 2020, the scariest year after world wars from the 20th century. Fortunately, with inoculation programs at a good pace and the economy trying to come back to normal, the manufacturing sector is also hoping for a good year. Industrial IoT has strengthened the hope for factories to unravel a future with technology at its core. More emerging IIoT trends are anticipated to take over factory floors in 2021.

IIoT is expected to explode in 2021 and beyond. Gartner has earlier predicted that about 20 billion connected IoT devices will come into the routine in 2020. With its upgraded technology, connected devices shape a great future for industries. They are anticipated to power the factory floors with IIoT devices. The IIoT concept is going beyond proof and into wider adoption and deployment across a whole host of industries. A survey by Microsoft has unraveled that 85% of companies have at least one IIoT use case project. The growing applications of IIoT on the factory floor will have many positive impacts on society. Henceforth, IndustryWired has compiled five big drifts that IIoT is seeing in 2021. 

Self-training machine learning to mitigate sudden failures

A machine learning algorithm is a powerhouse to train a large amount of pre-processing requirements that make data user-friendly. However, training a machine learning system is not easy. It involves going through vast datasets to make machines adapt to the working system. 2021 will see more industries coming forward to use unsupervised learning for AI. These emerging self-training machine learning models send data from a monitored device to the algorithm without human intervention. Machine learning in this process carries on the routine, and when there is any trouble in the normal guidelines, it acts out of the box and solves the issue. This can be used to flag maintenance on machinery when required.

Edge computing to do real-time data analytics

The core of the factory floor’s working system is data. Each device and sensor in a factory collects, processes, and packages up data for analysis. Unfortunately, IIoT devices are too advanced for cloud computing methods to deal with. This creates internal clashes and mishaps. Edge computing emerges as a handy solution in such hectic situations and addresses the immediate analysis problems. Edge computing helps factory floors analyze data and help make data-driven decisions in real-time. By working with data at the device level, the factory can maximize performance, minimize costs and improve overall latency and scale. 

SaaS platform to customize machine experience

A factory floor has hundred, and sometimes, even thousands of machines in it. They all work on a routine schedule and mechanism. However, the problem here is that they are not the same and has different applications and functionalities. The upcoming trend in IIoT is anticipated to provide a more customized machine that leads to a better experience. A SaaS platform enables customization and includes a mobile app that adds value to the end-user of the machine.

Predictive maintenance to alert on machine condition

Since factories are stuffed with expensive machinery, the employees are always on their heels to maintain and check on their conditions. One small error or a mishap will lead to greater mayhem. Fortunately, predictive maintenance models can patch the gap between machine failure and the expenses that follow. Remote data collection IoT can wirelessly patch and update machinery in a timely manner through predictive maintenance. The immediate response and precautious alerts minimize downtime and save the machines from falling prey to the worst failures. 

Employees’ safety at the core of factory floor

Ever since the lockdown came to effect due to the Covid-19 pandemic and factories faced the worst ever crisis, the factory owners are considering employees as an important factor. The level of loss everybody went through because of shutdowns made company executives think that employees are the core of a factory floor despite the emergence of advanced machinery. A survey states that decision-makers will prioritize employee safety over financial stability in 2021. Giving importance to employees include deploying predictive monitoring that alerts on machines when they are prone to cause accidents. This can minimize or even nullify employee loss.