What is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)?

You have likely heard of and/or used or benefitted from the Internet of Things (IoT); a system that connects “smart” gadgets to the internet and permits data collection and exchange. This mechanism is designed for consumer applications and emphasises ease and automation.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), on the other hand, is geared more towards industrial applications and focuses on control and optimization.

The Potential of the IIoT

With the IIoT, your work machine can automatically communicate with other machines to do tasks more quickly and precisely. It is in charge of bringing a new level of digital intelligence that supports things like connected logistics and smart factories.

Industrial enterprises can use the IIoT to facilitate cutting-edge robotics and automate more of their processes. It enables businesses to perform preventive maintenance and to view in real time the precise status of all of their assets throughout the supply chain.

Both the IIoT and IoT’s full potential are still far from being realised. Already, there are far more connected devices than there are people on the earth. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2025, there will be 41.6 billion linked devices worldwide, including everything from cameras, speakers, and appliances to machines, beacons, and sensors.

The Benefits of Using the IIoT in the Industrial Environment

The IIoT, together with robotics and artificial intelligence, is at the centre of the revolution that manufacturers have long been assured is underway. This ‘industrial revolution’ is characterised by the constant flow of data along the entire production value chain, as well as smart, autonomous systems and machines that are interconnected.

The IIoT can assist manufacturers in redrawing the limits of the industry and creating a new wave of disruptive businesses by providing benefits to asset health and uptime, operational efficiency, safety and risk management, logistics, worker experience, business processes, and ultimately an increase of the lifetime of their machines by measuring their performance and condition while decreasing maintenance costs by 10 to 15%.

Challenges facing the IIoT

Despite industry leaders recognizing the advantages of IIoT, many manufacturing organisations are still mired in a “pilot purgatory” as they struggle to scale up their digital transformation efforts.

One key challenge that has affected the industry is the fact that the large number of devices needed for IIoT integration cannot be supported by earlier wireless technologies like 2G, 3G, or even 4G.

However, this issue is being tackled head-on by the introduction of 5G. Running at roughly 100 times faster than 4G, 5G has the potential to support up to one million devices per square kilometer.

With a strong focus on connecting all kinds of IIoT devices to the ability to deliver new capabilities across many different industries 5G will provide higher data rates, low latency, high reliability and efficiency, enabling it to offer advantages over previous generations of wireless systems.

With a strong focus on connecting all types of IIoT devices and the capacity to deliver new capabilities across many different industries, 5G will offer advantages over earlier generations of wireless networks by providing faster data speeds, reduced latency, high dependability, and efficiency.

Utilizing 3DEXPERIENCE to build an IIoT platform

By embracing intelligent robots and sensors to alter your shop floor operations, the IIoT is critical to the future success of your operations. Linking all of your devices, sensors, and technological systems to a single source of truth in order to fully benefit from IIoT is where the real challenge comes in. And we’re here to help.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is fully capable of providing you with the tools to benefit from IIoT introduction into your processes. By utilizing our single, potent solution, you are able to gain full insight and control of your operations as the 3DEXPERIENCE platform helps you to build a virtual twin experience that monitors and imitates your real manufacturing assets, workflows, and systems in the virtual world.

An IIoT approach driven by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform has the ability to deliver on IIoT’s potential as its deployments expand in breadth and scale, turning it from a promising concept into a genuine game changer.

Get in touch today to find out how you can benefit from the enormous potential of the IIoT with 3DEXPERIENCE.