Taking Industrial IoT to the top of the agenda

The digital transformation has taken the world by storm and is reshaping the interactions between people, processes and machines. With an estimated 200 billion internet-connected things by 2030, the digital transformation will transform consumers, industry and governments alike.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is creating a new era for economic growth and competitiveness for industrial companies. Smart manufacturing is the gateway to digital transformation. Connected smart devices open new windows of visibility into processes. Data and analytics enable more informed and faster decision-making.

In an inaugural event, The Industrial Internet Summit, 15–16 February, is set to provide Australia’s foremost enterprise-focused IOT event. Being hosted in Sydney, the summit will provide attendees with new ideas and new connections, and realise new insights from IoT specialists and strategists, early adopters, industry data experts and cloud leaders.

According to Matthew Treeby, commercial marketing manager at Rockwell Automation, “The IIoT Summit provides a strong platform for business leaders looking to take advantage of the benefits that IoT technologies provide. As a company we are committed to helping the industry become more productive and competitive by adopting these technologies to implement a connected enterprise.”

In a connected enterprise plant-level and enterprise networks converge, securely connecting people, processes and technologies. Implementing such an integration is a journey. The first step is to get connected to the smart machines and devices that generate the data. Fortunately, the convergence of new technologies including mobile devices, the cloud and big data can help securely connect plant information with enterprise systems.

Smart operations require the use of new and disruptive technologies, from analytics and mobile to collaborative machines. These technologies communicate with each other and adapt to internal and external conditions. They also require new strategies that make the most of these technologies to create flexible, efficient, responsive and secure operations.

David Hegarty, managing director, South Pacific at Rockwell Automation, will participate as a panelist in ‘The New Age of Industry and Manufacturing with IoT’ forum. The forum will cover principal topics centred on how to build the smart factory, create intelligent machines with next-generation IoT and best practice IoT for manufacturers, supply chain, utilities, mining and precision agriculture.

Being a global manufacturer, Rockwell Automation recently embarked on its own journey to the IT/OT integration. Similar to other manufacturers with large product portfolios and a global manufacturing presence, Rockwell Automation used a range of manufacturing processes at its 20 different plants. Each plant ran its systems, with none of them talking to each other.

The company developed a five-year plan for the complete restructuring of their facility and supplier networks. Rockwell Automation started the journey by establishing a single connected system across the globe utilising EtherNet/IP. In tandem, they rolled out new, unified ERP and MES solutions across all of the production sites. The company has experienced an estimated 4–5% annual improvement in productivity.

Rockwell Automation will share knowledge and experiences while moderating a roundtable discussion on the second day of the summit, titled ‘From theory to reality — putting IoT to work in manufacturing and industrial operations’.

The IIoT era has arrived. This proliferation of connected smart devices can improve virtually every aspect of business performance with leading organisations taking advantage of its many benefits.

Rockwell Automation is the Manufacturing Industry Partner for the Industrial Internet Summit. For more information about the event, visit http://www.iiotsummit.com.au/.