Internet of Things
Adding an I to the IoT - supply chain tech
According to Grand View Research, the global Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market is expected to reach $933.62 billion by 2025. Given this astronomical opportunity, it’s no shock that businesses are striving to join the party, but they are still grappling with how IoT can benefit them and the best approach to get started with their IoT initiative. The natural assumption is that businesses, some of whom may have had legacy operations across manufacturing that could span decades, should rip out, invest from afresh and start again. However this legacy infrastructure might hold untolds amount of day that can improve business processes – and might be the best place to start in an IoT evolution. Frank Jones, CEO at IMS Evolve, and Tom Canning, vice president of devices and IoT at Canonical, explains
Tom Canning
Embracing what’s already at your disposal
As one industrial example, consider ‘cold chain’ supply chain management within the food retail industry. Given the significant costs involved, it seems unlikely that replacing every single fridge, freezer or delivery van within the estate of a food retail business would be very appealing for a large retailer. The sheer expense involved in such a drastic transformation
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of the supply chain will outweigh the immediate business benefits. Instead, for businesses looking to undertake such an industrial transformation, rather than investing in brand new equipment, true transformation lies in updating existing infrastructure and incorporating new connected technologies into an already functioning industrial ecosystem. For many businesses, the vital data needed to inform their supply chain strategies already exists, it is simply not being captured or extracted in a way that can unleash its true value. What businesses need is a way to collect this data, in real- time, at the location where it is being produced. It is here that the combined use of IoT and edge-computing technologies can provide the most value. Incorporating an IoT layer, businesses can tap into the available data locked within their legacy machines. Returning to the example of refrigeration and so called ‘cold chain’ suppliers, by integrating IoT technologies across both merchandising systems and fridge monitoring systems, the temperature of each fridge can be controlled in real time, allowing fridges and freezers to be adjusted automatically depending on the specific contents. This will not only help suppliers to reduce their energy consumption and associated costs, but
also help to ensure that a longer- lasting, higher quality product is delivered – ultimately improving the end customer experience.
Already making waves
While such complex IoT integrations may sound a long way off, they are in fact already being used across many supply chain ecosystems. Machine management brands such as IMS Evolve are already finding innovative solutions to incorporate IoT and edge technologies throughout the supply chain. And it’s not just refrigeration that’s benefiting from such advancements. Within the food manufacturing industry, IIoT technologies are being used to supervise each stage of batch food production. By monitoring the consistency of both ingredient quantities and potential environmental factors in the food preparation environment, large- scale food manufacturers can ensure that they are improving productivity and cutting waste at all stages of production. This will not only help to produce a higher quality product, but will also allow businesses to improve profitability at every level of the supply chain – from production right through to distribution.
Setting the standard
Despite these advancements, as well as the ongoing opportunities for industrial internet of things technologies to be incorporated within the supply chain, many believe that the IIoT still has a long way to go. According to research from Ubuntu, 32 per cent of IoT professionals believe it will take more than five years for IoT technology to receive widespread adoption throughout the industrial space. By contrast, 62 per cent expect to see mass consumer adoption of IoT in under five years. For many, the reason behind this slow adoption rate is a lack of interoperability across different industrial sectors and stages in the supply chain. In order for the industrial internet of things to be truly effective, IoT devices must be capable of collecting and analysing data in a consistent way regardless of where they are being utilised in the supply chain. In order to achieve this, IoT providers need to work together to establish cross-industry standards and means of cross-device collaboration throughout the IoT. Already we are seeing significant
Frank Jones
movement towards this goal, with many IoT device manufacturers choosing to develop and run their industrial IoT products to a consistent set of standards. This has also been helped by the development of IoT-specific operating systems such as Ubuntu Core, which allow industrial device manufacturers to build all of their devices on a single platform – further improving collaboration and communication throughout the supply chain.
Evolution not revolution Technology isn’t just the decision of the CIO/CTO anymore. From engineers on the ground that are using tech every day, to the CFO who must sign off on budgets, to the CEO that is responsible for the direction of the organisation - everyone has say in the process. As such, it’s important to show return on investment as quickly as possible, and one of the sure-fire ways to do this is actually optimising your existing assets. Legacy systems shouldn’t be a barrier
to IIoT, they can actually form the cornerstone of data-led efficiency programs. So before companies rush to tear out those systems that have been so vital in manufacturing over the past few years, they should seek to implement IoT projects that complement their existing technology, which will allow them and their infrastructure to work better together.
www.canonical.com Components in Electronics March 2018 37
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