The core of IIoT is industrial connectivity, which allows industries to gain insight into their industrial equipment to interpret performance easily. However, operators, as well as plant managers, cannot directly move to predict the performance of all their machines and their plant as a whole. They must first take part in industrial networking to assure that communication is simply possible between machines, the edge and/or the cloud, based on the nature of the IoT infrastructure.

Connectivity is one of the most crucial abilities of Manufacturing Execution System platforms. It suggests the capability of an MES platform to connect production and operation systems so that they can interact with each other for maximum efficiency. 

Reliable connectivity has been another challenge for machine operators. To save on costly development and maintenance, machine manufacturers requires an drop-in connectivity application that allows them to stream real time data  and advance analytics on edge and cloud.

Benefits of Implementing Industrial Connectivity Solutions

Connected machines offer benefits such as deep performance monitoring that can be utilized for better planning and decision-making.

Below are four key benefits to use a drop-in connectivity application for machine manufactures.

Out-of-the-box connectivity across all Devices

Drop-in connectivity applications allow machine manufacturers to implement connectivity across devices that use sensors or PLCs that utilize multiple machines specific protocols and standardization of the machine communication layer for secure and speedy value.

Avoid Costly Development Staff or Solution

Plug and Play ready-to-use solution allows unified connectivity without extra added cost, which risks future redesign in case of any system-level changes.

Access Machine Data Insights Remotely and Securely

With Industrial connectivity applications, OEMs can easily analyze their machine performance and access data insights securely from anywhere, anytime.

IoT Ready Connectivity

With Industry 4.0 solutions such as a machine monitoring system, your machine connectivity becomes a strong architecture for future digital transformation. IoT ready connectivity means simpler, faster IoT architecture designed for scalability and more proactive service.

How Connectivity Supports

On the other hand, when utilizing a connectivity-driven software, rather than spreadsheets, to classify and analyze your manufacturing production, you can connect your machines, software systems like ERP and  IoT enabled production monitoring  systems to assure a constant, real-time transfer of data at each stage of production.
 
Connectivity becomes more critical pointer when you drive AM operations across several locations and require to coordinate suppliers.

Eventually, connected AM workflows place the data at your fingertips, allowing you to initiate a flawless real-time stream of suitable AM data, that helps full visibility and active decision-making. 

How Industrial Connectivity Operates

Industrial connectivity operates by starting a channel for interaction and data across the machines that your business depends on for production.

First, we begin with a network connection to your machines. Next step is, the data coming from all of your IoT devices attached to your machinery is move to a gateway. The gateway then includes a protective layer of encryption to data before moving it on to the Cloud.

Once the data reaches Cloud where it’s stored, it can then be combined and monitored. We revolve all those data bits, bytes and statistics from your machines into actionable insights for your factory workers—all available and thorough data with real-time dashboards, reports, charts and notifications. This gives insightful data for shop floor operators, managers and the supervisors.

Once your data is running from your machines and can be utilized by workers, analyzes on the shop floor and can present color-coded performance metrics in real-time. Color coding describes which machines are performing well and which are under-performing so that curative action can be taken easily.

With data and  access to historical reporting, increasing productivity has never been that much easier before. Everyone and everything on your shop floor has that capability to perform together seamlessly.

Machine connectivity enables the flawless transfer of data between your hardware and an MES platform, assuring that machine and production data can be utilized to allow better decision-making and process optimization.
 
One of the essential advantages here is that machine connectivity can give better machine control and better visibility into real-time operations. It makes it simpler to monitor machine efficiency, material levels, machine uptime and utilization rates.  
 
Connecting assets on an  MES platform, enables your plant managers to continuously measure the each beat of the equipment and recognize any irregularities. This allows a proactive approach to addressing potential concerns before they create bottlenecks that affect production.
 
Keenly, more systems are now equipped with sensors to constantly analyze the whole process, to assure quality and prevent any failures. 
 
Eventually, it will also be feasible to sustain this data into an MES platform. This will further increase connectivity between machines and your industries IT infrastructure, enabling greater process accuracy and quality control. 

Learn more about how to build a thorough additive manufacturing strategy and how you can utilize process monitoring software to scale up your manufacturing operations.