The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

What is IIoT?

    IIoT Definition: IIoT, smart manufacturing, digital factory, digital plant, connected industry, Industry 4.0, intuitive industries. No matter what you call this disruptive transformation of industry, it offers — through the power of sensors, secure connectivity, and an IIoT platform — improved productivity, efficiency, sustainability, and cybersecurity across both new and legacy manufacturing facilities.

Six things you need to know about IIoT

1. Why is the IIoT evolution accelerating?

    Four reasons driving IIoT investment

    Manufacturing presents one of the largest opportunities for seizing the tangible return on IIoT investment:

a. Better management

Managing a large number of assets involved in manufacturing, including fleets of highly specialized machines.

b. Time savings

Reducing the time it takes to make products, in the face of ever-changing market and consumer variables.

c. Cost reduction

Improving internal business efficiency, while also helping to reduce operational costs and maintenance costs

d. Customer experience

Solving customer pain points and transforming the customer experience, while also helping customers contain costs

2. What are IIoT's business benefits?

    Three reasons to seize IIoT's value: 

    In manufacturing, 63% of businesses see IoT as a “strategic” path for competing more effectively with products and services, enabling companies to:

a. Improve the business

    IoT can drive both energy and operational efficiencies within manufacturing organizations, boosting quality, throughput, yield, and constraint management.

b. Make big data meaningful

    IIoT is the foundation for enabling advanced analytics that will drive real-time decisions, both on the spot and across the organization.

c. Thrive in the digital economy

    IIoT is a key enabler of innovation, digital transformation, and the development of new digital, customer-centric business models.

3. What are some successful IIoT examples?

Examples of IIoT with EcoStruxure 

    In manufacturing, 63% of businesses see IoT as a “strategic” path for competing as an intuitive industry. Both manufacturing companies and OEMs illustrate the competitive advantage of regarding IIoT adoption as a key business strategy instead of a technology issue. The following EcoStruxure customers demonstrate the successful digital transformation of their business.

4. What's a common IIoT project funding approach?

    Three recommendations for successful IIoT project funding 

    Understanding who initiates IoT projects — and, perhaps more importantly, who funds IoT projects — helps identify how to launch an ultimately successful project in your company. Here are some recommendations:

a. Strategically budget projects

Increasingly, the majority of IIoT projects are budgeted, indicating that they are indeed part of the strategic planning process.

b. Scale your long-term investments

It is critical to consider as well the longer-term budget requirements of managing, maintaining, and expanding to include other endpoints and connected "things” over time.

c. Align IT and the lines of business

Creating the link between the business needs and IT requirements early in the process will alleviate issues in the long term.

5. How can you launch your IIoT Partner Ecosystem?

Top 5 questions to ask a potential IIoT vendor 

a. What makes this IIoT offer worth the investment from a business standpoint?

b. Is your solution interoperable across systems (even other vendors’ components)?

c. Which cybersecurity certifications and measures are in place with your solution?

d. Do you have a comprehensive partner ecosystem that can help with installation and integration?

e. Which digital services do you have that go along with this offer?

Accelerating IIoT adoption with our extended enterprise co-innovation partners

Thriving in today's digital economy requires speed, expanded expertise, and agility. Digital alliance partners complement Schneider Electric's technology and knowledge to create solutions that solve specific market challenges, enabling customers to scale and accelerate their digital transformation.

6. How do you select an IIoT Vendor?

What makes a good IIoT partner? 

As manufacturers are making investments to digitally transform their business, there are several key criteria they are using to select a vendor(s) to support their IIoT projects. According to recent research of manufacturers that have deployed IIoT offers and solutions, the key elements to look for in your vendors include the following

a. Proven track record

Focusing on the key benefits of an IIoT investment such as internal improvements and cost containment will help raise the bar of the return on investment in IIoT, in turn, persuading C-suite management to invest.

b. Robust partner

Any IIoT solution will need technology elements from a variety of vendors; however, those vendors that can pull together a holistic IIoT solution through strategic technology partnerships should be strongly considered.

c. Industry-specific

Vendors who have knowledge of the manufacturing sector and familiarity with your company’s pain points in specific business processes will help shorten the time to create an IIoT project concept to trial.

d. Interoperable approach to solutions

Vendors who employ an “open” approach to their technology offerings provide a flexible and future-proofed option for longer-term IIoT requirements. For a heterogeneous equipment environment, machine-to-machine communication is essential to driving efficiencies.