My past month has been full of conferences and conference calls, and most have related to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Each has begun with presenting evidence of what a big deal it is and gone on to explain why. The common threads are an explosive increase in machine-level information (Big Data) and connectivity (on the Internet and in the cloud) that we can now profitably harness with analytics and software. So we must and we will, and we'll need your help.
For example, for condition monitoring, we used to make rounds and enter data manually. Now we can gather much more information automatically. "Sensors are more accurate than people with clipboards, and they provide real-time data," said Bonz Hart, CEO, Meridium. "Their size and cost are going down; they're now less than 30 cents apiece. But they can generate 63 million readings per year times a thousand—or 10,000—sensors per facility.'
Protecting electrical controls and equipment within food and beverage plants presents unique challenges due to the sanitation requirements of the hygienic environment.
