IIoT - Plant Services

eHANDBOOK

IIoTBridging the gap between the

digital and physical plant

TABLE OF CONTENTSIIoT: To cloud or not to cloud? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The first step is to identify the business challenges that you are trying to solve.

5 reasons why collaboration is crucial for IIoT success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The right IIoT partners can help you identify new business opportunities.

Busting 3 IIoT myths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

In this installment of Automation Zone, don’t let these misconceptions

be excuses for not getting your plant more connected.

Game on: How the IIoT is transforming asset lifecycle management . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Take your reliability efforts to the next level via these strategic moves.

What equipment interfaces say about the future of manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Bluetooth-enabled smart devices are opening up new product form

factors and functionalities

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eHANDBOOK: IIoT 2

From smart thermostats and garage door openers, to fitness devices that wirelessly

connect to your smartphone, the internet of things (IoT) is all around, but you may

not always recognize it. So, if a connected device is good enough for your home,

why not critical machines and business processes?

By bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds, the industrial internet of things

(IIoT) is ushering in a new era of efficiency, growth and information by giving companies

clear line of sight to critical assets and manufacturing processes.

FIRST STEP: IDENTIFY YOUR CHALLENGEWhile some businesses have already committed the time and resources to invest in condi-

tion monitoring solutions, others may be having trouble figuring out where to begin. For

those organizations, the first question to answer is, “What business challenge are you try-

ing to solve?”

Organizations typically are trying to solve productivity and uptime scenarios. To determine

what data needs to be collected and why, we recommend that you put together a small

recon team of operations workers, including maintenance, production, and plant managers,

the people whose purpose at the plant is to make sure that the equipment is running, and

that they have the parts they need to make repairs.

IIoT: To cloud or not to cloud?The first step is to identify the business challenges that you are trying to solve.

By Bill Sayavich and Mario Calvo, Parker Hannifin


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 3


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 4

This team takes the first steps in putting

together a plan by determining where prob-

lem areas are located and what they want

to measure to alleviate those problems.

For example, if a maintenance worker has

to walk the plant floor for hours each day

collecting diagnostic data, and then take

even more time to crunch that data with a

spreadsheet, a solution that calculates the

data and sends it directly to a smartphone

or PC is going to fundamentally change the

way that company does business. Another

option is to ask each person on the team

to complete the statement, “If I knew X, I

could avoid Y.” For example, using pressure

sensors, operators can diagnose issues with

cylinders or pumps that might not be oper-

ating at optimal levels.

From there, operators must decide which

assets will be fitted with the IIoT-enabled

condition monitoring solution.

NEXT STEP: BUILD FROM THE BOTTOM UPIt’s important for first-time IIoT users to

start with a condition monitoring solu-

tion for one or two critical assets to better

understand how it benefits their processes

and their bottom line. While the natural pro-

gression may be to migrate to a fully moni-

tored plant, your team’s goal should be to

develop a strategy for listening to the most

critical machines or processes without nec-

essarily attaching a sensor to every machine

or component.

Begin by listing any asset of critical im-

portance–the machines that run the most

hours and have the least redundancy– and

then from that list determine a small subset

of those assets to begin gathering greater

operational insight.Machines that are diffi-

cult to repair or have rare parts should also

be added to the short list, as well as assets

that could present a danger to employees

if conditions go unchecked. By monitoring

the conditions most critical to each asset,

operators can predict that asset’s health,

thus prevent downtime.

DECISION: BLUETOOTH OR CLOUD?Depending on critical asset list and on the

conditions the team commits to monitoring

(e.g. temperature, pressure, humidity and

vibration), an internet infrastructure may

need to be installed. While Bluetooth-pow-

ered sensors can transmit data to mobile

devices within range without an internet

infrastructure, cloud-based systems need

an internet infrastructure in order to get

the data to users who are just feet away, or

anywhere in the world.

The good news is that IIoT-enabled de-

vices can work with wireless or hardwired/

LAN networks– you don’t need high-speed

internet or big data internet services. All

that’s required to get started is an internet

connection, electricity, and data to measure.

Cloud-based solutions usually have a col-

lection server to receive and transmit data


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 5

from all sensors in the network. If sensors

are out of range, repeaters can be installed

to extend the signal without interference.

After working with the recon team to deter-

mine the type of sensors to use, the engi-

neering and maintenance teams plan the

number of sensors needed to achieve the

intended goals. When placing sensors, you

should expect to adjust your plan as well

as sensor locations during a piloting phase.

Also, after ensuring the system works

properly, it’s important to properly train

the workers who will be using it; and, work-

ers with access to the data must be able to

translate it into useful analytics.

One of the biggest challenges is striking

a balance between monitoring frequency

and keeping operational costs low and

assets running. One advantage of cloud-

based solutions is that they allow for con-

stant monitoring, as well as alerts for when

conditions breach a preset threshold. As an

alert comes in, you can identify which sen-

sor it’s coming from and where that sen-

sor is placed, allowing users to zero in on

problem areas with large, complex equip-

ment. Connecting to the sensors allows us-

ers to plot data trends and diagnose where

the problem is occurring quicker and easier

than if the operator were using manual

gauges and manifolds.

Hardware for cloud-based solutions typi-

cally cost more than Bluetooth sensors, so

organizations that are new to IIoT should

consider starting with Bluetooth to ensure

that the solution is useful, and then work up

to a cloud-based solution as needed. Older

assets can be retrofitted with either Blue-

tooth or cloud-based IIoT solutions.

BEYOND UPTIMEBased on the type of program you imple-

ment, your IIoT solution can not only alert

you to issues with your assets, but can also

provide a seamless and efficient path to se-

curing critical spare parts globally. There are

hundreds of millions of critical components

in use today that are essentially invisible to

traditional asset management systems, and

equipment vendors have spent great deal of

effort at digitizing their products and creat-

ing a cloud-based library of assets.

This is a paradigm shift for the industry, and

we hope teams are starting to recognize the

value that IIoT can deliver to their organiza-

tions.

About the Authors: Bill Sayavich and Mario Calvo

Bill Sayavich is technology manager for Parker Hanni-

fin Global Services, and Mario Calvo is business unit

manager for Parker’s Quick Coupling Division. They can

be contacted at [email protected] and mcalvo@

parker.com.

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The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) continues to permeate the minds of today’s

technology decision-makers in the manufacturing industry. There’s no denying the

growth of the IoT market, nor the impact the technology is having on businesses of all

shapes and sizes. Forrester Research reports that 82% of companies will have IoT applications

implemented in some way by 2017. And market research firm IDC recently predicted that the

worldwide IoT market will grow to $7.1 trillion by 2020, compared with $1.9 trillion in 2013.

Traditionally, leaders in the industrial marketplace are organizations armed with strong finan-

cial, technical, and infrastructure support and are the first to implement new technologies. But

in the new era of manufacturing driven by the IoT and the Industrial Internet, companies of all

sizes can achieve scale quickly to become major market disruptors. Necessary for this is align-

ing with organizations that can help make the IoT implementation process seamless.

No manufacturing company can scale its business in isolation from the larger community.

To do so would not only separate a business from the big data, networking, and computing

resources that are driving the most rapid improvements to industrial efficiency in history,

but also it would require everything to be built from scratch, slowing innovation. Strategic

relationships within the industry are essential to achieve rapid growth, which can be a vital

tool in maintaining competitiveness. So what should industrial maintenance and reliability

teams look for in the relationships they cultivate?

5 reasons why collaboration is crucial for IIoT successThe right IIoT partners can help you identify new business opportunities.

By Jennifer Bennett, GE Digital


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 7

1 . A TRACK RECORD OF SUCCESSThe Industrial Internet is not a one-size-fits-

all solution. A successful implementation

comes from choosing a team that has a

working knowledge of the manufacturing

industry. You want to be sure that the team

has the experience necessary to thoroughly

consider your individual business case and

present solutions that will address your

specific needs.

Also, make sure any organization you’re

working with demonstrates a commitment

to continued investment and innovation. If

its platform looks promising now, can you

ensure that it will continue to keep pace

with technology evolution down the road?

How often is the business enhancing its

offerings and developing new tools and

services? If it’s experienced in creating solu-

tions, does it also have a strong ecosystem

in place for implementing them?

Ask questions about available training,

service, quality control, ongoing upgrades,

communications, and escalations. Look for

an organization that’s focused on more than

merely the installation of Industrial Internet

technology.

2 . ONGOING PROJECT MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIESSome companies specialize in implement-

ing Industrial Internet systems and then

move on once they have been launched.

But the biggest key to unlocking Industrial

Internet benefits isn’t collecting the data;

it’s understanding what you can do with

the data. A successful relationship will

help your reliability team analyze and in-

terpret data by drilling down to see trends

or patterns every step of the way, from

implementation to identification of action-

able insights.

Partner organizations can also help speed

operations and results more efficiently

than an internal maintenance team operat-

ing in isolation can. This is because it’s not

about gathering data that optimizes one

particular machine; it’s about the connec-

tivity of the entire manufacturing process

to gather insights across a whole produc-

tion line or plant. This enables plant lead-

ers to correlate disparate types of data

and use out-of-the-box technology tools

to display and report on that relevant

data in real time. Then, manufacturers

can make the right decisions to increase

throughput, minimize waste, or reduce

disruption in their operations.

3 . ABILITY TO INTEGRATE EXISTING SYSTEMSConsistent and accurate data collection

is a critical first step in improving overall

performance using the Industrial Internet.

For manufacturers, the initial phase is to

connect assets and organize data in a

manner that’s simple and straightforward

to understand and visualize. Many of the

most-effective Industrial Internet imple-


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 8

mentations involve a large-scale effort,

such as equipping your fleet with sensors

or overhauling a factory.

But a seamless Industrial Internet imple-

mentation doesn’t necessarily mean that

it’s built from the ground up. Rather, it’s

important for manufacturers to find an

Industrial Internet organization that can

incorporate a customized solution into an

existing framework while leaving room

for modernization and growth of that

framework. Although you might not need

a cloud infrastructure resilient enough to

cope with millions of users now, it is pos-

sible that you will in the future.

4 . PROVEN DATA EFFICIENCY TO GENERATE INSIGHTSThe Industrial Internet is all about utilizing

the insight gained from data to achieve the

best possible results. It includes uncover-

ing areas for improvement or adjustments

and prioritizing and mapping those to larger

goals or key initiatives. This makes it easy to

take the view that “we will collect as much

data as we can and crunch it in the cloud,”

but it’s important to consider the cost and

other ramifications of this approach. The

more data you collect, the greater the cost,

but this also can provide you the ability to

gain better efficiencies.

It’s important, therefore, to have an effi-

cient data management system in place so

that only useful data is collected. Further,

this process must be scalable and opti-

mized. Look for an organization that has a

proven record of analyzing industrial data

to achieve operational excellence. Opti-

mization is realized when you can take

actionable insights from data to help your

plant perform more efficiently and effec-

tively, using minimal resources and ensur-

ing more reliability and predictability in

meeting goals.

5 . OPEN DOORS TO NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIESLook for organizations that can open

doors to new business opportunities for

your organization. Implementing industrial

Internet technologies offers the chance to

modify your industrial business model to

incorporate services with a regular rev-

enue stream and/or identify new markets,

products, or relationship opportunities for

added-value services.

Top-performing organizations are form-

ing relationships with industrial Internet

platforms to use the data to offer new

services and products to customers based

on intelligence gleaned from their current

behaviors. An Industrial Internet relation-

ship should let you leverage the collected

data to help your organization design

more-efficient machines and workflow

processes. The continued flow of data on

these machines will allow organizations to

continuously improve their equipment, in

turn increasing business ROI.


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 9

As you can see, strategic relationships within

the industry are essential to scaling manu-

facturing business operations to benefit

from the true value of the Industrial Internet

experience. When looking to work with an

organization to help implement the Industrial

Internet, seek one that will create a mutu-

ally beneficial relationship with your orga-

nization. Look for a company with ongoing

abilities to manage projects, the ability to

integrate an existing foundation, proven ef-

ficiency in integrating and handling data, and

the ability to open doors for your company

to new business opportunities.


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 10

About the author: Jennifer Bennett

Jennifer Bennett is general manager, manufacturing software in GE Intelligent

Platforms, delivering manufacturing intelligence and execution solutions for

GE and many of the world’s leading manufacturers.

Contact her at [email protected].

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There’s no doubt that the industrial internet of things (IIoT) market is evolving

quickly. International Data Corp. (IDC) predicted in a 2016 report for IFS that

the installed base of IoT endpoints would grow from fewer than 13 billion units

at the end of 2015 to 30 billion by 2020. The industries that IDC predicts will spend the

most on IoT solutions are manufacturing, transport, energy and utilities, and retail, with

a wide range of IoT use cases.

In other words, the industrial IoT clock is ticking, and businesses not already addressing the

opportunity offered by the IoT need to create and implement their plans – quickly.

So why are some companies still hesitating? One answer is that there are several misper-

ceptions or myths regarding the IIoT that are causing decision-makers to hesitate and

sometimes delay or stop an IIoT project altogether. A heavy focus on standards, exorbitant

expected costs, and the fear of big changes all are cited as reasons for not pursuing IIoT

projects. Let’s take a closer look at these.

MYTH #1: WE SHOULD WAIT FOR STANDARDIZATIONBUSTED! Unlike consumer markets, where standardization – formal or by market dominance

– is key to success, for the IIoT, standardization won’t be a concern for decades.

Busting 3 IIoT mythsIn this installment of Automation Zone, don’t let these misconceptions be excuses for not getting your plant more connected.

By Dan Matthews, CTO, IFS


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 12


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 13

Sure, there are multiple emerging standard-

ization initiatives in the IIoT, and it’s not

yet possible to know which will grow or be

marginalized. But the thing is that it doesn’t

matter. In consumer markets, new stan-

dards for, say, NFC chips in smartphones

can roll out and get near-full market pres-

ence in the few years it takes for people to

replace their phones. But industries are run

on equipment that is anywhere from years

to several decades old. This equipment has

been provided by tens or hundreds of dif-

ferent suppliers.

Even if the equipment manufacturers “IIoT-

enable” their latest generation according

to some IIoT standard, it will take decades

before industries have replaced all their ex-

isting equipment and assets with new IIoT-

standadarized versions. For the foreseeable

future, we won’t see standards on how to

connect up all industrial things. Instead, in-

dustries should expect and plan for bespoke

integration development or even retrofit-

ting of other sensors and communications

capabilities to equipment and assets to get

them connected.

MYTH #2: IIOT WOULD BE A GIANT LEAP FOR MY BUSINESSBUSTED! IIoT success is all about choosing

small, actionable steps that will improve your

business today – not aiming for giant leaps

that will transform your industry tomorrow.

For many people, the IoT still brings to mind

disruptor companies like Uber or Netflix. But

in most cases the IIoT develops rather than

disrupts the entire business. According to

the previously mentioned IDC report, the

main drivers behind IIoT are improvement of

day-to-day operations, including improved

productivity (14.2% of the companies),

improvement of quality and time-to market

(11.2%), process optimization improvement

(10.2%), reduced costs (9.9%), and improved

decision-making (9.3%).

A look at the vast majority of companies

that have already operationalized the IIoT

shows that the successful ones often have

started with a few well-chosen processes

and incremental change. It can begin with

connecting just one piece of equipment.

Earning a little more revenue from this

can then inspire us to take a bigger step.

What would happen if we integrated these

findings with input from another data

stream – external events, such as weather

forecasts or temperature changes, for

instance? How could changing operations

on this machine according to these inputs

optimize its performance?

The key is to ask, “How can we make this a

little more efficient?” not, “How can we rev-

olutionize our whole business?” Incremental

change is the name of the game. The IIoT is

about improving performance.


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 14

MYTH #3: IIOT WILL BE EXPENSIVE AND CAPITAL-INTENSIVEBUSTED! A few years back this statement

might have been true, but three key devel-

opments have made IIoT implementation

more affordable than ever before:

• The falling price of IIoT hardware and

software: Everything from the small-

est sensors to the largest gateways has

fallen in cost. Smarter, cheaper sensors

and gateways are available to all indus-

tries, allowing you to increase your level

of software control. If we take as a typi-

cal example a forklift truck, 10 years ago,

connecting one of these would have cost

at least $1,000 – out of reach for most

logistics and manufacturing operations

running several of them. Today a single

forklift could be connected for not much

more than a 10-dollar note.

• Cheaper, broader internet access: This has

made it ever-easier to connect a broader

range of machines and equipment across

a wider geographic area at a low cost.

New developments such as 5G mobile net-

works and LoRa will help ensure that this

trend continues.

• Cost-effective IoT cloud platforms: On

the platform side, we’ve seen big, exciting

changes. Ready-to-use cloud-based IoT

platforms that can handle massive scale,

storage, and computing are now more

widely available than ever before.

These three changes have made it pos-

sible for companies to get started with IIoT

projects more quickly and with lower risk

than before, enabling more experimenting

to reach success.

OPERATIONALIZING DATA: THE KEY TO IOT SUCCESSBeyond buying into these IIoT myths, many

companies overlook the critical issue of

how their IIoT data should be operational-

ized. To get returns from IIoT investments,

it’s important not to stop at collecting and

analyzing IoT data. If you do only that, you

still have not made a dollar. To benefit from

the IIoT, the knowledge and insight you

gain needs to be turned into action that

optimizes your business – whether that’s in

the form of a more-optimal maintenance

plan, higher service levels, improved logis-

tics, better-engineered better products, or

entirely new business models.

This can be done in several different ways,

but one key step in operationalizing your

data is automating the right processes

based on gathered data. To illustrate with

an example: Equipped sensors capture data

about too-high temperatures. Instead of just

collecting, registering, and manually acting

on this data, a process is created for auto-


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 15

matically dispatching service personnel to

replace a part that has suffered overheating

– thus preventing future catastrophic fail-

ures. Operationalizing and automating: This

is when the true power of the IIoT comes to

life and can generate significant revenues.

About the Author: Dan Matthews

Dan Matthews is CTO at IFS. In that role, he leads the company’s Research

& Strategy unit. Before joining IFS in 1996, Matthews ran his own software

development business.

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Digital transformation, the industrial internet of things (IIoT), and smart connected

assets have been prominent themes over the past 12-18 months. For the most part,

these have been separate focus areas in industrial organizations. In fact, however,

they’re closely related topics. As pilot projects take hold in a variety of industries, no one

industry has the lead; many are finding small wins and value. This is creating a larger oppor-

tunity for investments in technology and transformation in 2017. This means that pilots are

successful, so expansion into larger asset bases or different parts of the business will occur.

These enabling technologies and related transformational efforts are letting organizations

gain competitive advantages. The early adopters of this new paradigm can expect lower

overall operations costs thanks to improved asset reliability, longer asset life, and lower

decommissioning and disposal costs. What is missing is a discussion of the larger picture of

these projects’ potential effects on the asset lifecycle and what it all means for operations

and maintenance moving forward in the IIoT era.

At the heart of the discussion should be a commitment to understanding everything this

new era touches related to the asset. This includes changes in the technology architecture:

The asset becomes smart; the workforce becomes empowered; and applications evolve. At

LNS Research, understanding the new asset lifecycle era in IIoT is a key focus and we believe

emerging technology will continue to play a prominent role in asset lifecycle management.

Game on: How the IIoT is transforming asset lifecycle managementTake your reliability efforts to the next level via these strategic moves.

By Jason Kasper, LNS Research


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 17

A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT THE ASSET LIFECYCLETraditionally the asset lifecycle has been

viewed as a silo, with only operations and

maintenance responsible for “plan, do,

check, and act” processes from an as-

set’s design until its death. In an IIoT era,

this changes as assets evolve digitally and

physically. More touchpoints occur with

outside groups that hunger for data that

can help manufacturers, suppliers, sales

and marketing departments, and custom-

ers. This means that we need to think of the

asset lifecycle as a platform. The notion of

connected platforms comes the consumer

world: Think of the success of Facebook,

Snapchat, Instagram, What’s App, etc.

These solutions ultimately became success-

ful because of the size of connections made.

For industrial platforms to take hold, we

need to go beyond IIoT thinking and bring

the platform to what’s of value to connect-

ing in the first place – the asset. It’s not just

about connecting an asset, adding more

sensors, and enabling predictive analytics;

it’s about creating as many connections as

feasible to that asset throughout its entire

asset lifecycle. For social media platforms,

this means people, but it’s also advertis-

ers, the analytics to direct to whom to send

a message, the momentum of stories and

collaboration, and getting as many people

on the same platform to scale and creating

value exponentially.

This means connecting assets, services,

workforce, suppliers, manufacturers, sales

and marketing, operations, and mainte-

nance together on one platform, with many

applications that span specific users or use

cases to enterprise apps for many. Follow-

ing are some of the innovations that begin

to emerge in an IIoT era.


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 18

As technology has progressed, we have

seen an evolution from break/fix reactive

maintenance to condition-based mainte-

nance (CBM) and, ultimately, to the holy

grail today: predictive analytics. In the

past, the prohibitive factor in moving from

reactive to predictive maintenance was the

high cost of sensors and network connec-

tivity. Now the convergence of cloud and

big data is enabling cheaper infrastructure

costs, increased flexibility, and greater pro-

cessing power.

There are two levels to consider when talk-

ing about becoming prescriptive. The first

is the ability to understand and prescribe

which maintenance activity or activities

should be taken to postpone or prevent

asset failure. The second is the ability to

prescribe operational changes to alter the

profile of the equipment to delay or prevent

the failure. The first is important to become

maintenance-smart, while the second en-

ables operational excellence.

Early indicators show that organizations

that adapt smart connected assets gain a

competitive advantage and can be more

profitable in doing so. As asset-intensive in-

dustries move from traditional analytics to-

ward predictive and prescriptive analytics,

the insights are an opportunity to provide

better services. These analytics will incorpo-

rate new sources of data, such as video and

geospatial data as well as new algorithms

via machine learning to further push organi-

zations to evolve into new business models

and competitive offerings.

One opportunity is in employing a smart

services model with the manufacturer of

the equipment you’re investing in. This

removes the learning curve and makes the

manufacturer responsible for monitoring,

analyzing, and acting on the asset if it is

predicted to fail. The second opportunity

is in vendors selling capacity instead of

the physical asset itself. Organizations are

buying the capability of the machine with


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 19

guarantees of uptime. This allows compa-

nies to become more competitive in their

customer base offerings. They can deliver

products at a lower price or with a higher

level of service because of supplier agree-

ments and confidence in a consistent and

reliable manufacturing process.

MOVING FORWARD WITH ALM IN AN IIOT ERAIn the pursuit of asset lifecycle manage-

ment in an IIoT era, it is important to

understand potential obstacles. There is

a direct correlation between knowledge

about new technologies such as the IIoT –

an integral component of both smart con-

nected assets and digital transformation

– and the ability to build a business case

and therefore get the funding required to

execute.

A common strategy across all industries is

to start small with pilot projects. This ap-

proach provides the opportunity to learn

about the capabilities available from tech-

nology providers and equipment manufac-

turers as well as what works best for each

case and then build a larger future business

case. Findings provide the proof needed to

address executive leaders’ concerns and get

their buy-in to fund bigger projects.

Leveraging data to enable new business

models is in its infancy, but we are hearing

more customer stories on the opportunity

it presents. According to our research, a

near-majority of industrial companies, 47%,

have not deployed smart connected assets

and therefore are not getting the APM data

these assets so richly provide. Another split

is in the remaining 43% that do have as-


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 20

sets generating APM data; more than half

of these will not allow suppliers to access it.

This is a missed opportunity in companies’

relationship with suppliers.

If companies share data, they more than

likely will reap benefits like improved prod-

uct designs and preemptive fixes to support

warranty issues. More proactive organiza-

tions do at some level share their APM data,

either with proactive or diagnostic level

support. Starting here allows asset-intensive

organizations to understand how suppli-

ers use the data and can be the first step in

requesting Smart Services or usage based

asset models.

For the small percentage of forward-think-

ing companies that have taken advantage

of the full smart connected assets opportu-

nity that exists today, benefits are accumu-

lating on multiple fronts. This is apparent in

particular from reliability’s impact on opera-

tional performance, as measured in part via

overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

As the product of availability, productivity,

and quality, asset reliability can affect all

three of those factors, meaning that orga-

nizations with higher reliability will show

higher OEE. Looking at organizations that

have real-time visibility into APM data vs.

those that do not, we see that those that

have the capability exhibit a substantially

higher OEE performance than those that do

not, with a median OEE of 75 vs. 67.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PLATFORMSWe are in the early phases of transforming

asset lifecycle management in this era of

IIoT. A thoughtful approach to leveraging

these changes is a switch to an opera-

tional architecture point of view. As more

and more pilot projects lead to success

and expand to larger enterprise projects,

a more-holistic view will be required to

understand the relationships that change

and improve within the asset lifecycle. For

those ready to act now, here are some key

considerations for asset lifecycle manage-

ment in an IIoT era:

• The IIoT is a transformative technology

trend that will change the definition of

IT-OT convergence, system architecture,

organizational structure, and business

models: Smart connected assets, wheth-

er legacy or new, will play a crucial role

in generating the value of operational

architecture.

• Look to vendors that can deliver the need-

ed capabilities of an IIoT platform: They

should have an open view of technology

platforms, as proprietary capabilities will

be arduous to work with long-term.

• Vendor collaboration is critical for deliv-

ering on the vision of smart connected

assets and operations: There will not be

a one-size-fits-all approach, so look to

vendors with strong partnerships that can

provide a broad reach across the platform.


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 21


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 22

• Take the first step in the business case

journey by preparing technically for

what is to come. The best approach for

this is a pilot. Understanding at a small

scale how things work improves the plan

and helps develop the value to move to

a larger scale.

• Do not forget people and processes and

their connection with operational per-

formance benefits and ROI: As the infor-

mation begins flowing, new ideas and

resources will be required. Processes will

change; staying on top of this will extend

competitive advantages and can be a

value multiplier.

About the Author: Jason Kasper

Jason Kasper is a research analyst with LNS Research, which provides advisory and

benchmarking services to help Line-of-Business and IT executives make critical deci-

sions across areas including the IIoT, digital transformation, and operational excel-

lence (www.lnsresearch.com/blog). Kasper’s primary focus is on asset performance

management with collaborative coverage across sustainability, energy management,

and IoT/machine-to-machine (M2M) practice areas. Contact him at jason.kasper@

lnsresearch.com.

The interfaces of our electrical devices say a lot about how we once did our jobs

in manufacturing, and how our jobs will change going forward. In fact, if indus-

trial equipment could talk, it would probably say that the next generation of

industrial workers will achieve higher productivity using technology only dreamed about

20 years ago.

Industrial equipment made in the 1960s through the early 1980s displayed information on

analog dials. The operator interacted with the equipment by pressing buttons and flipping

switches. If there wasn’t a button for your task, then it probably couldn’t be done.

From the 1980s to 2000, the interface evolved thanks to embedded microprocessing. Read-

outs became digital, via seven-segment LED displays, but interaction was still limited.

Starting around the year 2000, the falling price of computing power enabled interfaces that

display multiple lines of alphanumeric text and gave operators control of configurations via

stepping menu options. This familiar style of devices interface is a huge improvement, yet

it has many disadvantages. Typically, workers encounter push-button scrolling, cryptic fault

codes, and confusing layers of menus. Devices are not always easy to navigate without the

user’s manual.

What equipment interfaces say about the future of manufacturingBluetooth-enabled smart devices are opening up new product form factors and functionalities

By Kip Larson, Littelfuse, Inc.


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 23

In addition, these newer interfaces were

more difficult to design for challenging

environments, and many times were the

weakest link in a product when exposed to

real-world industrial applications.

Fortunately, there is a new way that work-

ers interact with industrial electrical equip-

ment. If the equipment is connected to the

cloud via an Ethernet network or a wireless

antenna, then the smartphone can become

its interface. Mobile apps can improve

productivity because of their fast access to

information and because they are easy to

use.

Network security is a concern, because

the IT department does not always con-

trol bring-your-own-devices (BYOD), but

companies are coming around to the idea.

According to IDG Research, 85 percent of

employers in the United States allow work-

ers to use their personal devices for work,

such as tablets and smartphones.

Research conducted by Littelfuse confirms

that younger workers in particular are com-

fortable with using smartphones to do their

jobs. More than that, there is an emerg-

ing realization among their managers that

smartphones and the Industrial Internet of

Things (IIoT) may prepare manufacturers

for generational change in the workforce.

Plant managers can support this evolution

by installing sensors and control devices

that connect to an Ethernet or wireless

network. This shift in technology is quickly

changing the plant environment from work-

ers with significant hands-on experience

troubleshooting equipment to a new group

that would prefer to acquire data and trou-

bleshoot the problem from their computers

and wireless devices.

Expensive, critical plant equipment has had

communication capability for decades, but

as the cost of connectivity falls–especially

with wireless technology that does not re-

quire the running of cables–more low-level

devices such as temperature sensors, relays,

valves and solenoids are connected to infor-

mation systems.

Today’s intelligent industrial products are

much smaller, have more capability, and


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 24

Figure 1 . Bluetooth-enabled devices allow workers use a smartphone to interact with devices such as relays positioned in haz-ardous plant areas . Source: Littelfuse

may be approaching 1/10 the cost of the

similar equipment offered 5 to 10 years

ago. A good example is a motor overload

relay with Bluetooth capability (see Figure

1). By connecting to the relay using an app

on a smartphone, a maintenance techni-

cian can quickly review a host of real-time

information including set points and fault

history, without entering the equipment

enclosure. This same information can be

reviewed via a TCP/IP network anywhere

around the globe.

Cost will drop further as the smartphone

becomes the interface, because displays

and keypads represent an outsized share

of the cost of manufacturing. Often the

interface costs more than the electronics

that provide the control. What’s more, the

external interfaces are far more suscep-

tible to environmental hazards, washdowns

and vandalism, versus their in-panel peers.

Therefore, eliminating displays and keypads

will improve reliability as well.

As the facility maintenance and engineer-

ing workforce ages and retires, a new

group of workers is taking their places

that has grown up with computers, tablets,

and cell phones. Their aging mentors are

doing their best to embrace these tech-

nologies, but spent most of their careers

using a completely different set of tools to

accomplish their daily tasks. At the same

time that more experienced individuals

disappear from the workforce, globaliza-

tion pressures are demanding this younger

group do more with less. Fortunately, tools

now available to all groups will allow them

to access critical information from equip-

ment safely and quickly via interfaces on

their smart devices, as well as share this

information with experts anywhere around

the world to solve their problems.


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 25

About the Author: Kip Larson is director of product technology, industrial business unit,

protection relays for Littelfuse, Inc. (www.littelfuse.com). He has more than 30 years of

industrial electronics product design and application experience. He received a B.S. in

Electrical Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.


eHANDBOOK: IIoT 26

On-line Demo: Test Drive the New Bluetooth® Overload Relay

The smart Littelfuse® MP8000 Bluetooth Enabled Overload relay is a

universal relay that can communicate directly with your smartphone

via Bluetooth. No need to open the control panel. Monitor and control

unlimited relays through the Littelfuse App on the smartphone you al-

ready own from a safe distance. The universal relay works on all single or

3-phase motors and pumps with operating voltages of 90-690 VAC.

See the on-line demo:

http://www.littelfuse.com/mp8000demo

Parker Launches Cloud-based Condition Monitoring Solution

SCOUT™ Cloud Software and SensoNODE™ Gold Sensors create a continu-

ous remote monitoring solution that allows plant managers and maintenance

staff to monitor machines without interrupting production. The cloud-based

solution sends measurements direct from the sensors to their desktop.

• Access asset data from anywhere with an internet connection

• Monitor and address the long-term and immediate health of machines

and processes

• Receive alert notifications of issues by email, text and in-system mes-

saging

• Multiple personnel can monitor data simultaneously

• Quickly identify issues and take action before they escalate

• Reduce downtime and decrease maintenance costs

www.parker.com/conditionmonitoring

Better Machine Safety Means Better Productivity

Traditionally, the functions of automated machine safety and control have

been kept separate. But advanced safety technology embedded within

automation components is not just a means to ensure operator safety

— it’s also a way to improve performance. This e-book explores how

embedded safety drives and Ethernet-networked drives lower hardware

costs, increase operator safety, and reduce the amount of “full shutdown”

downtime, which adds up to more productivity.

http://www.schneider-electric.us/en/work/campaign/smart-machines/safe/overview.jsp

http://www.littelfuse.com/products/landing-pages/electrical/demos/mp8000-demo-01.aspx

http://www.parker.com/conditionmonitoring



Documents

IIoT - Plant Services