Also called the IoT for short, the Internet of Things refers to a network of countless devices that are all creating, storing, and sharing data with each other at all times. Over the last decade, they’ve become a cornerstone of what many are referring to as Industry 4.0 – otherwise known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
It’s also a concept that builds upon a lot of the best practices that manufacturers have been following in recent years, with OEE tracking being chief among them.
The Importance of Data Quality
To get a better understanding of why the IoT is playing such a pivotal role in factories everywhere, consider for a moment the way those devices are already being used.
Wireless sensors embedded in virtually any device you can think of on a shop floor are being used to identify precisely where products are for the purposes of picking and sorting. They’re being used for product packaging. They’re collecting data pertaining to the status of machines to be used for the purposes of better resource allocation. They’re being leveraged to create more robust proactive maintenance regiments, preventing downtime and reducing costs as well.
The availability of important resources. Improving performance. Increasing quality. If these concepts sound familiar, it’s because they’re not just elements that you can focus on with wireless sensor data courtesy of the Internet of Things – they’re also the tenants of OEE tracking as well.
This type of IoT-driven wireless sensor data on its own can be a great way to get a “bird’s eye view” of your manufacturing operations as they stand today. It’s all invaluable for making better and more informed decisions in the short-term. But if you take that same data and feed it into the right piece of OEE software, suddenly it becomes a viable long-term asset as well.
An Opportunity Too Important to Pass Up
In the end, a manufacturing KPI dashboard is ultimately only as valuable as the data that you choose to feed into it. If you populate its various charts and graphs with high quality, timely, accurate information you’ll get high quality, timely, accurate insights as a result. But as the old saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out.”
That’s why the Internet of Things is an invaluable concept in a manufacturing environment in particular. The data being created, collected, and shared by endless sensors isn’t just critical to the devices they’re connected to – it can also help give you greater visibility into your OEE tracking capabilities than ever before. At that point, there truly is no limit to what you might be able to accomplish.
If you’d like to find out more information about why the Internet of Things and OEE software make the perfect pairing for organizations that value continuous improvement, or if you just have any additional questions that you’d like to go over with someone in a bit more detail, please don’t delay – contact the team at Thrive today.