Smart Machine: Hype or Trend?
“IIOT”, “Big data”, “Smart industry”, and many more buzzwords are buzzing around the last few years.
At this moment “Neural net”, “Deep learning” and “Machine learning” seem to be dominating the IIOT buzzword realm.
Hype vs Trend
A hype is something that looks promising, but has not established itself. It is a short lived story so to say.
A trend on the other hand is something we can measure by looking at how many people are actively developing it, and are making money out of it.
The current trends seem to be revolving around:
- Machine sensing (Preventive/Predictive Maintenance)
- Smart Factory
- Solution as a Service (Platform Economy)
- Agile Manufacturing
- Machine Learning
Active development
Sensor suppliers hint a lot at predictive maintenance, and develop new sensors to enable monitoring of mechanical components. “IO-Link” is a term that is often mentioned where sensors can give more information than just the presence or absence of an object. These sensors can detect whether a reflector has become damaged or polluted, for example.
Remote assistance hardware manufacturers come up with platforms where data can be stored and visualized.
The larger PLC manufacturers are working on software to better monitor the production and status of machines on a plant wide scale.
Consumers are becoming more demanding. We don’t only want to buy a product on a website, but also want to personalize this product. It will become important to be able to set up a production process flexibly.
Where to start?
Yes, Smart machine is a hype and a trend. We just need to find a way to tie all loose ends together.
Looking at the difference between the solutions on the market today, it is not possible to just pick one and be done with it.
In the upcoming blog posts I would like to elaborate on this, and express PlantmatiQ’s vision in the world of “Smart manufacturing”.
