The Top 3 Roadblocks Facing IoT in Manufacturing
Could all the hype around the IoT (Internet of Things) in manufacturing be premature? The breathlessness with which the topic is discussed seems to suggest otherwise.
A Google search for “IoT manufacturing” turns up 97,700,000 results in 0.44 seconds. Much of the focus has been on how sensor-equipped devices can actively monitor their own health – enabling proactive maintenance and greater efficiency in the manufacturing process. As a result, “global spending on IIoT [Industrial Internet of Things] Platforms for Manufacturing is predicted to grow from $1.67B in 2018 to $12.44B in 2024, attaining a 40 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in seven years, according to research from IoT Analytics.
I would be among the first to acknowledge the potential of the IoT to upend the manufacturing process. However, a degree of caution is warranted as major challenges to the effective implementation of IoT-enabled devices remain. These potential pitfalls largely fall into three areas: legacy machines, security and regulatory concerns and the availability of lower-cost options to improve efficiency.
Many manufacturers have massive sunk costs in the form of their existing machines. These machines were often custom-built, purchased long before the onset of the IoT age and lack the capability to integrate with IoT devices. Most of them are dedicated machines that run on (hopefully air-gapped) Windows 95or even older systems (yes, you read that right) – an issue that remains widespread.
According to Amnon Shenfeld, CEO of 3DSignals, “by some estimates there are 60 million machines in factories throughout the world and 90 percent are not connected. Meanwhile, 70 percent of the machines are more than 15 years old.”
Yet manufacturers are hesitant to discard these machines because they’re phenomenally expensive to replace (if replacement hardware/software even exists) and still perform their intended function. As the old adage goes: “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” a notion manufacturers have clearly taken to heart. While vendors like HPE and IBM have tried to push the idea that older machines can be refitted to become IoT-compatible through the use of inexpensive sensors, interface dongles are only part of the problem.
Far deeper and harder to fix are the accompanying software and storage issues. Do you really want a machine running Windows 95 (for which support ended in 2001) connected to the Internet?
All manufacturers in the United States are subject to export controls. Some manufacturers, particularly those in fields like aerospace or who have extensive government contracts, must comply with additional, extensive, federal regulations regarding what data is collected and where it is stored. This can make implementing an IoT strategy tricky because it’s not solely a technology problem but a legal and compliance one as well.
