3 Ways to Improve Efficiency and Profitability in Factories Using IoT Technology

It is an inevitable fact that the use of the internet creates great changes in our lives. In addition to communication, interaction, and information sharing between people which comes along with the internet, the concept of IoT (internet of things) is a great game changer in that manner. With the help of IoT technology it has been made possible to collect and process data in workplaces and manufacturing sites. Thus, the concept of “Industrial IoT” emerged. The data made available by Cloud Service Providers and Information Systems has positively affected business life and industrial production systems and has made a difference to the industrial perspective by generating solutions.

Powered by IoT Technologies, Digital Facility concept has been conceived by creating digital twins of enterprises which enable organizations to increase productivity, to control their production line instantly an to intervene remotely. Digital facilities not only provide IoT solutions in the production area but also enable digitally recording, examining, and controlling many aspects in a facility including operational processes from production to distribution.

In this article, 3 solution proposals developed with IoT Technologies are presented to digitalize and manage facilities more profitably:

Increasing Employee Productivity with IoT Technologies

Benefits such as monitoring the instantaneous location of personnel in enterprises, measuring their productivity, and ensuring occupational safety are among the main benefits of employee productivity solutions developed with IoT technologies. Utilizing this solution developed with IoT technologies, the duration of the time a personnel spent in audit can be determined, operational errors that cause unnecessary loss of time in the workflow can be detected and both of these can be eliminated, thus helping to increase the efficiency of the workflow. At the same time, it is possible to determine where and how much time employees spend outside of their working area and increase productivity in line with personnel needs.

In addition to increasing efficiency, detecting the missing personnel quickly by conducting rapid headcounts in the assembly areas in case of an emergency is one of the solutions provided by IoT technologies for digital facilities. Preventing occupational accidents and responding to serious health problems in the fastest way is among the IoT solutions developed for employees. As a suggestion in this context, a possible accident situation can be determined by applying the Inactivity Alarm solution in factories using heavy work vehicles.

In addition to instant reporting, back dated data can also be obtained, and thus, social distance monitoring and social distance control for coronavirus, which is a major problem for companies nowadays, is made possible by determining the past locations of employees at the workplace, and a warning is given in case of violation of social distance. Also, with retrospective reporting, in-company contact tracing can be performed. In the event of a possible incident, IoT technology can also determine who is in close contact with whom and quarantine can be applied for the company.

Increasing Machine Productivity with IoT Technologies

Efficient and full capacity operation of the machines is one of the most important issues for factories. Two machines of the same brand and same capacity can sometimes yield different production output, and this can be extremely difficult for factories to notice. In digital facilities, using advanced IoT technologies, data can be easily collected and estimated.

With IoT technologies, it is possible to understand how long the machines are operational and how much idle time they spent, and thus, planning for production becomes easier. In the event of the machines not used for a certain time, prevention of the labor losses caused by the operator is ensured by generating alarms.

Ensuring Energy Efficiency with IoT Technologies

One of the areas that constitute a serious cost item in production facilities is energy. Thanks to the solutions developed with IoT to ensure efficiency in this area, instant measurement and tracking of energy consumption, optimization, and generation of warnings in case of sudden changes can be provided. With IoT solutions, areas causing unnecessary energy consumption can be identified and optimized or eliminated, including the identification of the cause of high consumption. In this way, a significant reduction can be achieved in electricity bills, which is one of the highest cost items.

It is very important to check the reactive power in energy consumption (the power which has no positive effect on the load and moves between the circuit source and the load) in factories. There is no consumption of reactive power itself; but if it is withdrawn more than a certain level, a reactive penalty payment is reflected on the bill. However, in digital facilities, this situation can be kept under control with IoT solutions and possible penalties can be prevented.

Another important topic is to access energy measurement and analysis to make accurate cost calculations. In addition to these, avoiding surprise bills and penalties can also be achieved with the services of IoT technologies in the field of energy. All these mean a lot in terms of energy sustainability as well as the efficiency and savings of companies.

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