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When the term "digital transformation" is used in the industry, it frequently conjures up images of people repairing machinery while wearing augmented reality headsets, entirely automated factories with no sign of human labor, or self-driving vehicles tearing down the country's motorways.
However, digital transformation can be different from something out of a science fiction film to provide a significant return on investment, as more and more industrial enterprises are coming to realize. IIoT apps that extract and send data from industrial equipment to the cloud are crucial methods businesses employ in digital transformation to modify their operations.
Photo Credits: John Schnobrich
Companies may quickly build and swiftly deploy these applications because of the introduction of new IIoT infrastructure solutions. They can use them to derive valuable insights from equipment data that help them resolve some of their most challenging business issues.
The bio-waste trash container in our area has to be emptied. Our washing machines are continually breaking down. Our portable air compressor was taken from a job site and is now hidden away in a warehouse on the other side of town.
These problems—and how IIoT apps address them—are at the core of what we mean by "smart" manufacturing, which connects to the cloud and completely changes how we conduct business today.
The Digital Transition Will Move More Quickly With Simplified IoT Infrastructure
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Making an IIoT application of this kind was challenging until recently. To create the infrastructure required to extract data from industrial equipment and wirelessly transmit it to the cloud, companies, in particular, needed expertise in a wide range of complex subjects. This can include embedded software, industrial communication protocols, wireless cellular communications, IoT cybersecurity, and cloud APIs.
Fortunately, modern all-in-one solutions give businesses like IIoT platforms access to this IIoT infrastructure, negating their need to acquiesce in this knowledge. They can concentrate on creating the IIoT application itself thanks to this infrastructure.
For instance, an IoT platform integrated with industrial equipment with IoT gateways by using an IIoT infrastructure solution's built-in communications protocols instead of developing a custom Modbus interface between the sensors and the IoT gateways requires sending this sensor data to the cloud.
Additionally, these all-in-one systems frequently come with gateways already set up to connect to the encrypted wireless cellular network immediately. This provides a safe link for the IoT platform and its clients to send data from IoT gateways to the cloud. It removes the requirement for the platform and its clients to create and maintain wireless plans with several Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
Cloud APIs may be a part of these integrated systems. These APIs allowed the platform to swiftly incorporate data from the industrial equipment's IoT gateways into their cloud-based IoT application platform in less than two days.
Similar to how the cloud has made IT infrastructure simpler for businesses, allowing them to concentrate on creating cutting-edge apps rather than managing and scaling IT infrastructure, these new all-in-one solutions have aided firms in making IIoT infrastructure more straightforward.
Smart Equipment is Transforming Industrial Businesses' Operations
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This narrative demonstrates how modern industrial digital transformation mainly entails gathering and utilizing data from equipment to address critical operational issues, such as leaking fertilizer tanks, broken commercial washers, stolen mobile air compressors, and overflowing trash bins.
It might not sound as thrilling as utilizing augmented reality goggles to fix machinery, operate automated factories, or drive autonomous trucks. However, by making their equipment smart, these new IIoT applications are altering how industrial businesses conduct business today.
In conclusion, Industrial IoT has come to stay and changed business operations into a much smarter and easiest one. Are you prepared to embrace industry 4.0.?