IoT Sensors, Data, Analytics, and Industry 4.0 Trend
Blessed with five basic senses and a brilliant brain to process the sensed information, humans are undisputed dominator across all known living beings. Then, back in the 1800s, artificial sensors were invented, which enabled humans to develop machines that relayed predefined information over a network. This development immensely benefited in eliminating errors caused by human negligence. Now, supported by the radical rise of the Internet, artificial sensor technology is matching human senses, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is redefining nearly everything around us.
From autonomous vehicles and automated aviation to security and surgical robots, sensors are serving as the backbone of several disruptive innovations. Along similar lines, the Industry 4.0 trend is restructuring the manufacturing industry by leveraging advanced sensor data generation, storage, and analytics. The essence of Industry 4.0 is to construct a connected environment wherein each process is optimized for the greatest production efficiency, safety, security, supply chain, and customer relationship.
Industry 4.0 is poised to transform the current scenario of sequential and siloed transaction at a manufacturing unit that is limited to relaying information “after things happen,” into presenting data-based real-time actionable information on “what may happen.” Consequently, Industry 4.0 empowers manufacturers to open avenues of innovation and leapfrog ahead of their competitors.
Infolob – an Oracle Platinum Partner dedicated to armoring enterprises with an exceptional operational infrastructure backed by cloud computing, IoT, and artificial intelligence (AI) – observes that manufacturing organizations have noticed the Industry 4.0 trend and reaping four benefits: a smart factory, easier product innovation, enhanced customer service, and increased value chain transparency.
The following elaborates further on the Oracle tools Infolob helps its clients utilize to leverage the four benefits of Industry 4.0:
1.A Smart Factory
Oracle Smart Connected Factory lays an agile platform to cohesively manage and improve every aspect of the manufacturing process by interconnecting devices. The devices yield data to identify maintenance opportunities beforehand and save on breakdown costs, help differentiate between issues caused by environment and machine, and monitor quality. It does so by utilizing advanced cloud platforms, IoT connectivity, predictive intelligence, and Big Data Analytics.
With IoT Production Monitoring tool of the Oracle Smart Connected Factory solution, manufacturers gain machine level details as well as the aggregate operational assessment
of an entire plant or even a region. Based on key performance indicators displayed over a comprehensive visual dashboard, unit heads are able to detect any unusual production behaviour, optimize repair activities or equipment downtime, and ensure spare part availability. Moreover, the concept of Smart Connected Factory employs Big Data analytics to trackback the root cause of an undesirable pattern or frequency, save on resources invested on service activities and generating reports, and maintaining supplier information and inventory procurement.
5 Primary Business Benefits of Oracle Smart Connected Factory:
- Gain a bird’s eye view of all operations across the factory; integrate with cloud quality management and enterprise asset management to strengthen control over daily operations and execute future plans
- Actionable data to proactively detect and avoid downtime as well as trackback the root causes of issues pertaining to yield, quality, and flexibility
- Data-based identification of areas with opportunities of efficiency optimization
- Save on human resources as modern manufacturing platform reduces dependency
- Speed-up feedback loop and follow-ups
2.Easier Product Innovation
Expanding product portfolio aligned with changing consumer demand is imperative for manufacturers to compete against global and local players. However, implementing changes to current product line requires in-depth analysis of customer feedback, supplier and retailer suggestions, and feasible innovation possibilities. Oracle product lifecycle management (PLM) and configure, price, and quote (CPQ) as well as AI for customer experience and the IoT Cloud tools arsenal manufacturers to achieve digitalization of PLM, leverage eCommerce platforms, and optimize the overall product lifecycle.
Infolob projects Industry 4.0 trend to open tremendous new opportunities when it comes to product innovation by the means of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Before indulging in actual production and negotiate unexpected complexities, AR and VR will enable manufacturers to virtually map the product prototypes and significantly reduce the R&D expenses.
3.Enhanced Customer Service
The Industry 4.0 trend is redesigning the manner in which organizations service equipment, strategies go-to-market, and handle customer relationship management (CRM). 
Real-time data collected from product sensors relay information on ground reality, analytics provide actionable information on future possibilities, and both in return create new revenue avenues believed impractical in the past. The proactivity in the CRM process is achieved via predictive maintenance and asset status analytics build around environment variables, usage, and key diagnostic protocols.
The longstanding need for reduction in capital expenses and process agility is sustaining the manufacturers’ demand for “product as a service” association with suppliers. However, Oracle’s connected service solution revolutionizes CRM. CRM technology in integration with AI gathers and corelates data to interpret and predict customer satisfaction. Moreover, AI improves an organization’s capability to CPQ comprehensively to initiate a successful sales journey.
4.Value Chain Transparency
Finally, the Industry 4.0 trend entails a digitalized value chain, wherein legacy transaction processes are replaced by cloud integrated supply chain, creating transparency like never before and spawning incredible new business opportunities. It does so via phenomenal advancements made in tracking technologies such as industrial internet of things (IIoT) device sensors, RFID chips, GPS, cloud computing, and blockchain.
Equipped with real-time details from the overall value chain creates opportunities to understand actual lead-generation, costing of materials, inventory availability, and logistic calculations and control. Oracle Cloud Solutions offers Industry 4.0 tools to connect partners and customers alike. This connection is crucial for a globalised business wherein understanding what customers desire, design it, produce it, and deliver it faster with a premium after-sales service is paramount.
Conclusion
Advancements in sensor technologies is carving a future of interconnected IoT devices sharing data and leveraging big data analytics to support decision-making with artificial intelligence. For manufacturing organizations, this revolution is termed as Industry 4.0, aspiring to optimize operations across four aspects: A smart connected factory, easier product innovation, enhanced customer service, and value chain transparency. Oracle offers market-leading Industry 4.0 tools, and Infolob facilitates the solutions with a decade long expertise.
