A perfect storm of new technologies and resources is converging to revolutionize the industrial space, and now is the time to explore investing in them. In this article, we’ll look at the roles technological advancements can play in your industrial future, as well as some significant implementation challenges, and how choosing the right partner can help you avoid them.
Use Cases and Applications
The “Industrial Internet of Things” hosts an entire ecosystem of devices ready to usher in the age of digital manufacturing transformation. These machines are capable of precision and accuracy that can optimize use of raw materials, and require reduced use of human capital. The “intelligence” of these machines can further maximize uptime through advanced preventive maintenance alerts. However, new or existing employees may require extensive re-training in order to oversee their operation.
This challenge can be overcome with the implementation of an equally exciting new technology: virtual reality. While it’s more commonly associated with entertainment (e.g., immersive gaming experiences, movies, etc), VR could have an even more profound impact on how training is conducted.
Hands-on training with an experienced supervisor is critical to closing the skills gap and ensuring employees stay up to speed on the latest workplace technology. However, as a trainee begins to work independently, mistakes can lead to the costly waste of raw materials that IoT devices are designed to eliminate. Furthermore, misuse of equipment can lead to downtime due to malfunction, or possibly even serious injury. However, VR solutions are there to fill this gap, and provide a safe, reliable solution to ease this transition.
Why Implementations Can Fail…
The biggest reason these transformational products struggle to deliver the promised benefits is a lack of adequate planning at the outset. In the near term, this may manifest itself in the form of early integration issues among solution elements. This can stem from an incomplete strategy behind selection of solution components.
However, even with the perfectly selected solution set, organizations can still stumble due to inadequate network infrastructure planning. These solutions (virtual reality in particular) are massive consumers of bandwidth, so it is imperative to build in enough excess network capacity before implementation, and assess network capacity every few years to ensure continued performance.
…And How to Avoid It
In order to clear both of these hurdles, it is essential to choose the right partner to work with. An expert partner can help you develop a strategy for component selection and guide you through integration. They will also be able to assist you with ongoing network assessments, so you will always have the latest technology and the network capacity to properly take advantage of it.
Our Channel ONE global partner network features several advisors and integrators who can assist you every step of the way, from our network capacity enhancements to the latest IoT technology. Contact us today to learn more.
