Efficient Plant June 2018 - 37

column | industrial internet of things

B

ESIDES THE manufacturing
disruption caused by all forms
of IIoT (Industrial Internet of
Things) technology, enterprises are adjusting to new safety regulations, consumer behavioral shifts, new business
channels, and a younger workforce. For
example, craft-beer producers and the
entire beverage industry are calibrating
business strategies due to the disappearance of brand loyalty. According to
craft-beer maker, Deschutes Brewery,
Portland, OR (deschutesbrewery.com),
consumers are constantly experimenting and looking for the next new beer.
As more IIoT pilot projects begin and
management envisions a strategy five
years out, companies are recognizing
the importance of uniform processes,
similar to a unified automation strategy
across the enterprise. A 2017 report,
Vision 2025, from PMMI Media, Reston,
VA (pmmi.org), on consumer packaging goods (CPG), food-and-beverage
companies states, "management wants to
be able to combine strategies, processes,
and tools to accelerate the institutionalization of operational best practices."
Many companies, as seen from the
recent study and other industry case
studies, are beginning their digitalization journey with predictive maintenance. A recent discussion panel on
digitalization trends at the Siemens 2018
Manufacturing in America Conference
in Detroit, Todd Slater, manager and
designer at Amway, Ada, MI (amway.
com), discussed how better monitoring
provides critical insights for new equipment purchases.
"When data monitoring locks on to
older production equipment, companies
ask the right questions," said Slater. Amway started monitoring aging equipment

JUNE 2018

and realized fixing, tuning, and patching
pieces together on legacy equipment
wasn't efficient."
Actionable plant data is having
a ripple effect on not only legacy
equipment replacement but changing
processes within an enterprise and
instilling a more responsive approach
to plant decisions. "Companies need
'buy-in' from production teams using
the system-they need to be involved in
the entire process," stated Charlie Sheets,
master engineer at system integrator
Matrix Technologies Inc., Maumee, OH
(matrixti.com), during the CPG and
food panel discussion.
The challenge for many companies
just starting on this IIoT journey is
real-time data for decision-making. "We
don't want operators and maintenance
teams spending all day gathering information and not focusing on production,"
said Patrick Zambon, controls engineer
at Founders Brewing
Co., Grand Rapids, MI
(foundersbrewing.com).
The information needs to
be available at production
meetings so personnel can
have good analytics and
decisions are being made
based on actual equipment
data."
Zambon also added
that the younger workforce
expects digitalization to be
part of the decision-making process and is one
of the key attributes for
manufacturing companies
to offer when recruiting
the younger generation of
workers. EP
ggerke@efficientplantmag.com

Change
Requires
Decisive IIoT
Strategies
Grant Gerke
Contributing Editor

A panel at the 2018 Manufacturing in
America conference discussed issues of a
younger workforce related to IIoT and
predictive-maintenance pilot projects.

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http://www.deschutesbrewery.com http://www.matrixti.com http://www.pmmi.org http://www.foundersbrewing.com http://www.EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
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