IoT and the Future of Manufacturing
January 2020
Recent developments in the world of IoT
California’s new IoT Security Law, the first of its kind in the US, came into effect on 1 January this year. The legislation mandates all IoT devices sold in the US to have “reasonable cyber-security measures” embedded.
However, there seems to be a lack of clarity regarding what a “reasonable security feature” is, which makes compliance for organisations difficult. The types of IoT devices – to take the enterprise IoT environment as just one example – range from computers and copy machines to thermostats and personal fitness monitors. Under the new law, a reasonable security feature is outlined as one that is “appropriate to the nature and function of the device, appropriate to the information it may collect, contain, or transmit, and is designed to protect the device and any information contained therein from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure, as specified.” In other words, it depends…
The new legislation does take an important step in the area of password management, though. If a device’s authentication takes place outside a local area network, the device itself must either contain a unique pre-programmed password, or require a user to generate a new means of authentication.
The guidance in the new law, however, is specific to authentication. For cyber-security measures beyond password management, the Critical Security Controls of the Center for Internet Security (CIS) has been seen as the “floor” for reasonable cybersecurity and data protection since its inception in 2016.
The UK-based IoT Security Foundation has partnered with the IAMSE Consortium to develop a certification scheme for IoT products ahead of potential legislation. A set of 30 checks have been drawn up to provide manufacturers with a simple and cost-effective way to adhere to cyber-security standards.
A national network of bodies have been authorised to certify the various checks. The scheme is designed to increase IoT cyber security, as well as enable IoT manufacturers to take advantage of the so-called “trust opportunity”, by differentiating their products over those of rivals and showing that they’ve taken steps to ensure high security standards. The UK government announced plans to introduce new IoT security laws for manufacturers of connected devices, which will be developed from Secure by Design, the Code of Practice for Consumer IoT Security it published in October 2018.
The biggest technology event that took place at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January was showcasing IoT solutions on (as you would expect) the consumer side of the connected devices spectrum. But some of the innovations showcased there will have an impact on enterprise IoT as well. A case in point is be the world’s first 5G PC, unveiled by Lenovo. The Yoga 5G – just like previous models in the range – is a highly portable 2-in-1 device, with a screen that can be folded backwards to turn it into a tablet. It will go on sale in the first quarter of 2020 at an estimated £1,200.
Another IoT-related news from CES 2020 was the announcement of a new low-code IoT application development platform from New-York-based developer Arduino. The combination of Arduino’s low-code application development platform with its latest proprietary modular hardware will enable users to design, build, measure and explore various prototypes in a single day.
The biggest technology event that took place at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January was showcasing IoT solutions on (as you would expect) the consumer side of the connected devices spectrum. But some of the innovations showcased there will have an impact on enterprise IoT as well. A case in point is be the world’s first 5G PC, unveiled by Lenovo. The Yoga 5G – just like previous models in the range – is a highly portable 2-in-1 device, with a screen that can be folded backwards to turn it into a tablet. It will go on sale in the first quarter of 2020 at an estimated £1,200.
by Zita Goldman, Business Reporter
Think big, start small, learn fast: how IoT delivers operational efficiency for industry
Roger Gardiner, Regional Director of IoT solutions, ADLINK
Whether exploring operational efficiencies in industrial automation or looking for digital transformation to drive business value in new ways, ADLINK Digital Experiments provide a secure and cost-effective place to innovate with IoT. Digital experiments help develop a comprehensive IoT business strategy and define a roadmap for implementing successful IoT solutions by thinking big, starting small and learning fast.
The industrial internet of things (IIoT) is the enabler for new types of business model that will increase the bottom line for businesses and improve the range of services they offer. Edge computing offers real-time insights and facilitates informed decision-making that ramps up your operational efficiency.
Full IoT solutions conventionally require significant investment, despite success rates for such projects only reaching 26 per cent, according to industry studies.
In response, digital experiments are a quick, repeatable and low-cost way to prove a business hypothesis around an IoT project. By following five simple steps, you can test the potential of possible IoT-based solutions, with none of the upfront costs and risk associated with a full commitment.
Think big
Manufacturers can start by considering problems to be solved, determine the processes that need to be changed and the benefits they hope to achieve. This will generate the maximum business value possible.
Start small
Operators can, with minimal upfront investment, take advantage of digital experimentation to collect and analyse valuable information. This helps to determine whether the projected outcomes, such as improved production quality and reduced labour costs, can actually be achieved.
Learn fast
As the saying goes: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Users should become comfortable with the idea of making mistakes, get accustomed to learning from them, and develop the resilience to keep trying.
Build an ecosystem
The IoT value chain encompasses protocols and connections, security, data streaming, equipment management, power control, data transfer, machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), edge analysis, cloud computing and many other complex links. Without a complete ecosystem of partners, an individual supplier will not be able to manage everything on its own.
Recognise the facts
The ultimate goal of IoT implementation is to explore data and identify valuable information, rather than perform technological experiments.
ADLINK Edge™ software releases the power of operational data and enables intelligent decision-making by streaming to the cloud to give access to deeper insight from advanced analytics, AI and machine learning. With no programming necessary, ADLINK Edge™ quickly connects previously unconnected operational equipment and sensors. Then, by tapping into native communication protocols, data can be captured and streamed at the edge. This data can then be streamed securely between devices, databases and to the cloud, enabling analysis and easy visualisation to inform decisions and optimise operations. All in real time.
ADLINK’s solutions include hardware, software and support elements and are all vendor-agnostic, built on open standards and using modular components which allow for easy integration with any existing IT and OT system. Users are also able to benefit from IoT expertise within ADLINK’s extensive partner ecosystem, which includes AWS, Azure, Google, Thingworx, IBM Watson, Intel and SAS.
Beyond the buzzwords: the challenge of choosing an IoT vendor for industrial manufacturing
Saverio Romeo, IOT Analytics
The internet of things, digital transformation, industry 4.0, the fourth Industrial Revolution – all are popular buzzwords used to describe a vision of industrial manufacturing in the 21st century.
IoT once promised to be a game-changer, delivering optimised efficiency and transforming business models. But is it living up to the hype? And who is actually making it happen and delivering value in the market?
First and foremost, the adoption of the industrial internet for manufacturing is about driving value by increasing profit and optimising resources across operations. Manufacturers want to maximise production line uptime, improve accuracy, quality and output and reduce waste.
They are investing in IoT technology to drive these improvements through greater efficiency. This efficiency can only be achieved by gathering data from machines and sensors and using advanced analytics, machine learning and AI to give a deeper insight into the operational environment and enable better decisions at every stage.
IoT bridges the gap between IT and OT – operational technology – because it harmonises the various systems of the organisation. On one side of the organisation is the operational technology – the production machinery; on the other side you have IT. IoT deployments can connect machines that were not connected before, gather data from them and combine this with data from IT then apply analytics for an informed decision-making approach. So IoT can unite these two functions within a manufacturing organisation to provide a holistic, integrated view.
Choosing a vendor
In the rapidly evolving IoT landscape, the challenge for any manufacturer is to choose the right IoT vendor to meet its needs.
There are three fundamental factors. First, the vendor must understand the needs of the organisation. Second, it must have the right software solution specific to the manufacturing sector and provide a robust yet flexible industrial internet platform.
Third, the ecosystem surrounding the vendor must be rich and varied and draw upon the most relevant expertise and experience for your organisation. The vendor needs to have technology partners and vertical partners with deep knowledge of your specific industry. This is one of the most important indicators of how effective the vendor will be in delivering a solution that solves your problem and delivers value.
Start small and scale up
The cost, complexity and security of IoT have been identified as the three biggest barriers to successful IoT implementation within manufacturing, but they can be overcome with the right approach. For example, ADLINK offers the Digital Experiment which provides the opportunity to start with a small-scale IoT project to test its value and learn from it, before committing to a large-scale deployment. In this way it provides a lower-cost entry point to evaluate IoT investment. It also offers an incremental innovation process, which allows manufacturers to scale and solve problems at each stage. It takes manufacturers on a journey towards digital transformation, beginning with a small, lower risk deployment but with the flexibility to scale and reach the next level by delivering AI at the edge.
For manufacturers choosing an IoT vendor, there are many factors to consider. The optimum vendor will offer a value-driven approach which meets your organisational needs, possess deep sector experience and a rich partner ecosystem together with a flexible and scalable IoT platform which can deliver value now and into the future.
The future of IoT at Advantech
The Goldilocks moment of IoT deployment
The internet of things (IoT) is fraught with risks and uncertainties – but less so if you have experts holding your hand along the way.
6LowPAN, LPWAN, CoAP, JSON-LD – just some of the acronyms which identify the more than 70 protocols coming under the at least eight layers of an internet of things (IoT) system.
Complicated stuff. But with the value of the global IoT market forecast to reach £11.5 trillion by 2020, no business, least of all manufacturers of consumer goods or commercial equipment, can afford not to get involved in IoT sooner or later. And as IoT technology matures and offerings becoming more sophisticated, even a complex cross-platform deployment of embedded technology and cloud systems connecting in real time is becoming much more straightforward for IoT solution providers than it was just three years ago.
That’s not to say that building an IoT system is devoid of any risks, missteps or failures. Global management consulting firm McKinsey, for example, found that 17 per cent of IoT projects go so terribly wrong that they can threaten the very existence of a business.
Even some of the companies with the financial resources, expertise and confidence to go it alone using the IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) solutions of major cloud service providers can often lack clarity on what is covered by the contract, and what aspects of the implementation and operation will fall on them. Not only that, but these services lack key application development capabilities that a platform such as Ayla Networks provides, and ultimately cost many times more to manage in the long term.
Businesses opting for do-it-yourself IoT are provided with the IoT building blocks, but they’ll need to do all the heavy lifting by integrating those blocks into a system via a lot of testing. Then, once it’s up and running, they’ll have to manage, support and maintain it to ensure optimal performance. Being left – both literally and figuratively – to their own devices they will face potential problems such as the failure to get OTA (over-the-air) software updates, inconsistent device data streaming or limitations to upscaling the system.
IoT deployment as a service
Thankfully, for more risk-averse businesses – and for those who learned the hard way – today IoT deployment can already be achieved on a platform-as-a-service basis too. Subscribing to platform services can enable IoT solution providers to get a fully-functioning, high-quality, supported and scalable product to market in a few months.
Contracts with platform providers will cover a range of microservices such as provisioning, application enablement, access control, device and data management. Maintenance and support are also covered by contracts. Bringing up new IoT services in new locations around the globe ceases to be a challenge and modularity ensures that products can be easily adapted to future requirements.
Silicon Valley-based Ayla Networks is a leading IoT platform & solutions provider that combines edge connectivity, device management and application enablement capabilities in a highly secure platform. With IoT driving digital transformation in companies worldwide, Ayla’s solutions give companies the boost they need, combining a higher opportunity for growth with a streamlined, lower-cost service and support framework. Taking reductions in IoT deployment costs and time-to market a step further with a robust ecosystem of partners and the agility of the Ayla platform, Ayla radically simplifies the building of IoT-enabled products, always finding innovative ways for businesses to easily and effectively gain value from IoT.
The most recent case in point is Ayla’s new, portable software agent. Software agents and hardware chips make up the modules embedded in IoT devices. Until now, software agents needed to be built and certified to work with chip and module specific types – a process that could take a year or more. Ayla’s portable software agent removes the need to test and certify a different software agent with every chip and module variation or to port the agent to a chosen module. From Fujitsu, Best Buy and Hamilton Beach to Shark Ninja, Kenmore, Carrier and Salus Controls, companies are discovering that this agnostic approach – any module, any device, any cloud – is a compelling differentiator.
Surveys show that 60 per cent of businesses substantially underestimate the complexities of building IoT services. Providing clarity regarding the risks of deployment and the services and tools with capabilities to mitigate these risks can ensure that, more businesses can take full advantage of the Goldilocks moment of low-risk, future-proof deployment prior to the imminent explosive growth of the IoT market.
A world-class software expert for complex IoT device projects
The IoT trend has made software the cornerstone of countless innovative projects. It first started to affect B2C areas and is now spreading into the B2B markets and complex industrial contexts. Adding intelligence into devices is a great opportunity to also add value. Software now impacts many non-specialist companies which master their innovation processes but not their software projects.
Witekio’s added value is in bringing a global software system vision to the table. It boasts the ability to manage global software projects for its customers, and also has in-depth knowledge of cutting-edge technologies.
Passionately dedicated to embedded software and IoT
Witekio has been dedicated to embedded software for 17 years. The company was formerly known as Adeneo Embedded, a low-level software expert with worldwide recognition for board support package development. At this time software was considered an expert’s business, but with the emergence of the IoT trend the company’s management team anticipated that software would “get out of the ghetto” and become key to many innovations and affect all markets.
When traditional industrial companies need to innovate, including intelligence and IoT scenarios, they need a co-pilot to take care of the software elements of their project with a global software system vision and know-how. Adeneo Embedded accompanied that change by progressively evolving from a software expert to a software system expert, designing and engineering complete embedded and IoT software systems for companies all around the world. The company changed its name to Witekio in 2016 to complete that transformation.
Helping customers in all stages of development
Witekio brings world-class and widely recognised technical expertise covering both low (OS, driver, firmware) and high-level software (application, connectivity, cloud). Combined with a wealth of knowledge from a variety of projects and specific markets this allows the best choices in technologies and architecture to be made to ensure the best performance and security. Witekio provides custom services for software development, integration, design, support and training.
Witekio applies its rich experience to a wide range of embedded solutions for the automotive, handheld, industrial, medical, mobile and wireless markets, while working closely with industry-leading silicon and software vendors, and its passionate teams based in Europe and the US. The company helps its customers in all stages of development to enable the success of their projects and maximise their efficiency.
Leading the global software integration of connected systems
Witekio assists industrial clients from all sectors around the globe, such as SoloProtect, SatMap, L’Oréal, Precor, Cerevast, Datalogic and Evoca, in the design and development of their innovative embedded IoT systems. Witekio’s skillset spreads from the hardware to the cloud, from UX design and system architecture to the development and integration of the full software stack. The company’s experts bring their knowledge into innovation projects to anticipate all crucial aspects such as real-time performance, power consumption, security, system update, connectivity and more.
The detailed knowledge of smart embedded and IoT systems, their software architectures and ambitious project contexts enables Witekio to play a leading role in the global software integration of connected systems. The company’s unique mastery of lower layers and hardware compatibility, essential for high-performance systems, coupled with its expertise in applications and interconnectivity, are a great asset to meet the challenges of today’s connected ecosystems.
This is why Witekio was acquired by Avnet late 2019. As part of the Avnet family, Witekio provides an unparalleled end-to-end ecosystem for IoT product development. Together with Avnet, Witekio aims to design, make and deliver high-quality technology solutions in every corner of the world.
Samir Bounab, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer, Witekio.
Deeper thoughts IoT and Manufacturin
The “deep-tech” trend: what is the future of hardware start-ups
There is a new reality emerging in venture investments, and it’s not virtual or augmented – it’s start-ups building real products. Dr. Peter Dudin, CBDO of EnCata, talks about a new trend favouring investments in IoT and other hardware start-ups.
Modern deep-tech start-ups are not just guys making a piece of hardware in a garage for fun. These are advanced, cohesive teams of like-minded people, who are building market-ready products to solve specific customer problems. They’re using dedicated hardware designs with core technologies (IP) transferred from research labs and seamlessly integrated with cloud software.
Today, IoT-connected hardware devices using core scientific technologies and fairly complex built-in software are one example of the trend in favour of hardware. Mobile applications and services are no longer in fashion, with competition high and barriers to market entry low. This new trend has deep-tech start-ups implementing fundamental IP in hardware devices as the main competitive advantage. Deep-tech hardware start-ups are about scientists and hardware and software engineers teaming up to disrupt old industries and change market rules. Such start-up teams are able to resolve R&D problems, pivot when needed, and transition from lab-scale technology to mass production and technology-as-a-service (TaaS) business models.
Deep-tech start-ups are inherently hardware-focused, which is not surprising since scientific advances are usually embodied in new hardware products or advanced materials. Many projects, however, do not reach the market because scientists and developers are not always also talented entrepreneurs. Moreover, the process of raising funds to transition a hardware product from R&D to a commercial scale product with stable revenue often becomes an intractable challenge, otherwise called the “valley of death”. Unfortunately, today, the venture capital model does not align well with the capital-intensive nature of hardware investments.
What you need to know about investments in deep-tech startups
Start-up investments can be divided into three main stages:
Pre-seed
A start-up at the pre-seed stage has only a laboratory technology or concept. Investments are necessary to finish R&D and demonstrate the technology at lab scale. Professional investors rarely invest at this stage. Therefore, a start-up should count on friends and family, savings, grants, and angel investors (who, at this stage, are very difficult to find). Pre-seed investments are typically in the range of $150-300,000.
Seed stage
Here the start-up’s focus is on engineering a pre-production prototype with working software, filing patents to protect core technologies, and launching limited batch production. While some start-ups can use crowdfunding (such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo) to demonstrate first sales and/or test market demand, crowdfunding is typically not available for deep-tech start-ups because of their focus on industrial applications and B2B solutions, which are capital-intensive.
Start-ups should be actively searching for professional investors at the seed stage who recognise the new trend in favour of hardware investments. Hubs exist in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Shenzhen, Berlin and other locations with investors willing to invest in hardware and deep-tech start-ups. Venture investors typically invest from $1-5 million at the seed stage. Success is measured by finding the right product market fit and achieving pre-market launch sales. If all goes well, start-ups begin to hire additional staff to meet growing customer demand and ready their product for commercial scale production and sales.
Scaling stage – series A and B rounds
At this stage the start-up has achieved a market launch but needs to invest substantially more capital in marketing, sales and inventory to meet customer demand. Venture capital firms (such as Sequoia Capital, NEA) and emerging IP capital firms with a model focused on hardware investments (Cote Capital) are engaged in investing in scaling start-ups at this stage.
Alternatively, deep-tech start-ups may at this stage be purchased by a large corporation – Google, IBM, Walmart, Nestlé, Facebook or Boeing, for example – with a strategic need for the start-up’s IP and the team’s deep expertise. Why do large corporations prefer M&A over in-house development? Low appetite for risk among C-suite managers for the uncertainty present in developing new technologies is one reason. Another motivation is the size of the market opportunity a start-up offers for the acquirer’s well-established sales and distribution network.
Such M&A deals (at seed and series A or B rounds) are typically in the range of $10-80 million, with the internal development cost a lower boundary in value and the perceived market opportunity and timing advantage over competitors an upper boundary.
How to find a good start-up investment? This is both a complex and simple question. We typically look for three main factors:
• A professional team
Competent specialists, who truly believe in the company, demonstrate good character (high integrity, faith, resilience, creativity) and have the emotional intelligence to see challenges as opportunity, not roadblocks. Being an entrepreneur is an epic journey.
• Core technology
Is the IP really proven, working and a true competitive advantage?
• Market validation
The product should solve an existing problem in a large addressable market or make a business and/or industrial process more efficient. Also, the start-up must demonstrate the product’s market fit either through customer pilots or first sales.
Speaking about promising business models, one should have a “moat” principle in mind – having a competitive IP edge for long enough to deliver an appropriate return on investment. Examples include:
• Subscription-based models where start-ups connect clients to their ecosystem
This business model is extremely favourable to investors because it offers a more predictable future. Whether you are a new software-based platform, or a satellite-launch service, customers often persist for years.
• Unique technology
Possessing IP that no one else has provides a timing advantage over market competitors (remember, R&D is a long and expensive process).
With the new trend in favour of deep-tech start-ups, we are witnessing a fundamental shift in how we invest in emerging companies, taking us full circle from historical trends in favour of hardware, to software, and back again to hardware – this time for dedicated applications as the cost of hardware has lowered to enable deep-tech start-ups to take advantage of the higher performance inherent in application-specific hardware. With deep-tech start-ups starting to commercialise science in hardware devices, it’s getting real again!
by Dr. Peter Dudin, Co-Founder CBDO, EnCata
Power tools to the people: making robotics accessible to everyone
Over the past decades there’s been a dramatic reduction in manufacturing across Europe, as the western European cost structure in particular struggles to compete with international low-income labour. Companies must outsource their manufacturing to low-income countries or shut down entirely.
Robotics, however, makes it possible to relieve people of unnecessary labour, increase productivity and drive revenue. Combining highly qualified factory workers with low-cost automation enables them to compete with low-income manual labour. New generation robotics can handle short production cycles, and those that require lots of minor adjustments. But even today, robotics technology remains a luxury for all but the largest multinationals and confined to a narrow range of industries. The most obvious and prevalent example is the automotive industry, although even here robotics has seen little development for decades. In-deed, robotics technology has seen little improvement overall, focusing on solutions that are remote from humans, costly, specialised and inflexible. These systems require not only six-figure investments, but also many weeks to be set up and programmed. Demanding extensive knowledge in the field, they allow for little flexibility in adjusting and re programming tasks, making the return-on-investment very high.
Franka Emika’s vision is to make robotics accessible to everyone. Our robotic assistants are affordable, as usable as a smartphone, and are designed for direct human-robot interaction while equipped with the highest capabilities. Our users from highly skilled robotics professionals to factory workers in firms of all sizes – are benefiting from this easy-to-use, flexible, cost-efficient and scalable approach.
Our revolutionary robotic system Panda has been specially designed to be deployed within the 3C (computer, communication and consumer electronics) industry. However, it is capable of automating various tasks within any given sector, relieving factory workers of tiresome, repetitive and potentially even dangerous tasks, therefore relocating human resources towards more engaging and impactful assignments.
Plug-and-play robotics
As mentioned before, robotics has been stagnating for decades. But the industry is now at a stage comparable to the introduction of PCs, smartphones and the internet. Our robot systems can be used by everyone, with no need for specific know-how or integration methods. The future is already here. The plug-and-play or “out of the box” – approach is at the core of Franka Emika’s methodology and design.
Panda offers the easiest and fastest set-up – in under 15 minutes it easily integrates into any environment. It can be operated through any PC or mobile device and can be used by laymen or experts alike. Panda is the first system that can be operated via smartphone-like apps, with an engaging, intuitive dialogue menu. It can learn new tasks in minutes by direct interaction, such as hand-guiding. Apps and tasks can be easily purchased and/or shared through our novel digital robotics platform Franka World. Users can reuse or deploy taught tasks on multiple robots to reduce costs and increase profit significantly. It is a unique, powerful tool, and the first of its kind.
Panda offers human-like agility thanks to a full seven axes of movement, and has an inherent, even adaptive compliance with novel sensor technology, algorithms and machine learning.
Panda is not only revolutionary, it’s also affordable. At less than €11,000 it is considerably less expensive than other players on the market, and can be equipped with apps and services through Franka World.
Are robots truly compatible with human employees?
Our team was among the researchers who invented physical human-robot interaction more than a decade ago. Most robots avail able on the market are pre-programmed positioning machines. We, however, see robots as power tools that serve humans and make their lives easier. More than 15 years of research made this concept possible, but as with any technological revolution, it takes time for it to be fully embraced by the market and the general population.
Panda represents a new generation of sensitive and versatile power tools with a unique sense of touch that supports humans in various tasks. It has shifted the perspective on robots from being dangerous job-killers to interactive devices comparable to smartphones.
Industrial robotics still requires a lot of safety regulation, predominantly the legacy of the metal giants of classical industrial robotics. But you can use our robots with minimised safety guards and in a collaborative way – the specifics depend on the application, the end-effectors, the level of trained personnel and other factors. However, we are on the verge of dramatic changes. It is just a matter of time when cyber-physical systems – devices that connect the digital with the real world – including robotics, drones and autonomous vehicles will be deployed in huge numbers.
Besides technological hurdles – mainly the visual perception – the biggest challenges will and should be the acceptance of the general population, as well as legal and liability issues. Europe is the technology leader in this field, but we are far behind when it comes to educating the population and setting up clear rules. This could be factor which will lose us the next battle in technology and become purely a bystander, as happened in the smart device era.
Is RaaS the most effective approach to SME robotics adoption?
SMEs seek the simplest available solutions that allow for maximum flexibility and scalability. Most people are familiar with using technology, especially software, as a service (SaaS), and therefore RaaS definitely has great potential.
However, one must differentiate between the entire robot system as a service, which requires a certain logistical effort, and using robot functionalities as a service. For the first time, the latter is possible with Panda’s industrial-suited robot system. Franka World, the revolutionary platform we launched at this year’s Hannover Messe, enables community interaction between researchers, partners, customers, developers, suppliers and even robots themselves, to push the frontiers of Industry 4.0. Besides communication, everyone is able to easily gain integrated access to products, services and management of entire robot fleets, independent of their physical location.
Consequently, RaaS is an inherent part of our business model, and it will follow a similar success story as, for example, when expensive on-premises solutions were supplanted by enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. We strive for a world where everyone can use a robot, and we can reach that by connecting the world.
Remote assistance made easy with AMA
Esther Duval, Marketing Manager, AMA
How to make more time and money from your manufacturing operation
Where are we with the connected home?
The idea of the connected or smart home – in which the products and services we use in our homes are augmented by their connection to networks, increasing their ability to improve our lives by making them safer, more comfortable and more efficient – is a future that’s been visualised and imagined in popular culture for some time.
It seemed that this would come to fruition earlier than expected, with smart TVs looking to become the norm in homes very quickly. But since then, the uptake on other categories of devices seemed to slow dramatically. In order to understand this, techUK has conducted three years of research to better understand what can be done to improve market appeal, consumer understanding and ownership. In that time, we have already seen shifts to ease uptake, but there is much more to be done to improve this through collaboration between government and industry, and greater engagement with consumers.
According to this year’s research, progress is certainly being made in terms of uptake in connected home devices. With the industry doing very well in terms of improving consumer confidence in device security, increased interoperability leading to consumers purchasing a greater number of devices from different categories and becoming much more aware of how these devices can improve their comfort in the home.
We saw that a record eight out of 10 consumers now know something about the smart home. This is a positive step, one we feel will lead to greater numbers of consumers adopting new products.
The industry has worked closely with the government on its “secure by design” legislation, but more can be done in conjunction with the government’s National Cyber Security Centre to establish greater technical legislation covering products already on or going into market.
Another positive outlook from the market is that 52 per cent of consumers are willing to pay more for a smart rather than a non-smart product when it comes to home security. Consumers are also willing to pay premiums for health monitoring devices. Again, this shows a move towards maturity and increasing competition will help to improve offerings for consumers and provide greater value.
However, although we have seen improvements, our research shows that the top three key barriers to consumers when it comes to the connected home have been cost, privacy and lack of awareness and these have remained more or less the same for some time
So, what must be done?
If the industry is to convince consumers of the benefits of the connected home, it must be committed to develop its narrative around value. Our report showed that industry is still struggling to do this.
An active part of this will be addressing the concerns that consumers have around the security and privacy of the smart home. This will require collaboration with government. The industry has worked closely with the government on its “secure by design” legislation, but more can be done in conjunction with the government’s National Cyber Security Centre to establish greater technical legislation covering products already on or going into market.
The industry must also do more to encourage consumers so their ecosystem and network of smart home technologies can bring even greater benefits.
In conjunction with this we also see a role for government – firstly, in recognising the part smart home technologies can play in delivering the government’s Grand Challenges policy paper, such as the goal to be carbon net-zero by 2050. Smart meters can do a lot to encourage this, as well as other ways in which smart products can increase their own energy efficiency.
Secondly, we see an opportunity for government to work with connectivity providers and energy suppliers to provide the best ecosystem for the market to flourish. This includes pushing forward with commitments made in the Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan, such as new offers for consumers on home energy management systems, smart tariffs, smart appliances and electric vehicles.
The benefits of the connected home are real. Work from industry and government to foster this sector will make people’s homes more safe, more comfortable and more efficient. And, if we get this right, the growth in the market here in the UK could be extremely beneficial to our economy and society through efficiency improvements and our ability to share best practice with the rest of the world.
by Teodora Kaneva, Programme manager, SmarterUK
Jargon buster – IoT and Manufacturing
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by Evan Kirstel
Six trends that point to a smart manufacturing future
New technologies are not just enabling optimisation of existing processes – companies are rethinking their processes, value chains and business models.
Smart manufacturing – a way to deliver the end product with intelligent, real-time orchestration and optimisation of business, physical and digital processes within factories and across the entire value chain – is the future. Resources and processes are automated, integrated, monitored and continuously evaluated based on high levels of transparency and data exchange as close to real-time as possible.
That is how the imminent future of manufacturing is seen by MESA International, a non-profit community of manufacturers, suppliers and consultants cooperating to accelerate innovation and IT adoption in manufacturing. It is a broad-system vision for efficient collaboration among stakeholders in the smart manufacturing ecosystem. It’s also a vision within reach in the next two decades, thanks to advances in platforms that are making integrated systems and technologies accessible to more manufacturers and further empowered by consortia focused on making available the knowledge required to run smart manufacturing systems and ecosystems.
Machines are getting smarter, with embedded computers, AI, and application program interfaces (APIs) ready to exchange data with MES and cloud platforms.
Several trends are fueling the optimism:
#1. Product manufacturing and service are converging based on new market demands
For many products, the market is switching from buying a mass-produced product off-the-shelf to buying a custom configured product as-a-service. These new blended manufacturing-service business models require more customer interaction and elevate the value of the digital data that goes along with the product during its service life. These ecosystems are forced to evolve to deliver the required data services.
#2. Manufacturers are redefining their processes and services around new enabling technologies
New technologies are not just enabling optimisation of existing processes. Companies are rethinking their processes, value chains and business models. The proliferation of smartphones, IoT, cloud services, low-code platforms and DIY machine connectivity are causing manufacturers to empower the customer and citizen technologists (such as engineers, developers and data scientists) with more data and tools in order to accelerate the pace of innovation in the whole ecosystem.
#3. Hybrid human-machine processes are on the rise
When innovation led to the high use of robotics in factories in the 1980s, many people predicted that within 10 years all factories would be filled with robots, and there would be no human operators. Decades later, more than half of manufacturing tasks are still performed by human operators.
Rather than replace humans, robots will work collaboratively with a balanced distribution of responsibility. Technologies such as cobots, exoskeletons, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented reality (AR) will augment, assist and empower the future worker.
#4. Manufacturing ecosystems are achieving higher levels of connectivity and transparency
There has been much progress in engineering, production automation and enterprise business systems in the last few decades. Manufacturing execution systems (MES) and paperless operations are the new norm in factories. Machines are getting smarter, with embedded computers, AI, and application program interfaces (APIs) ready to exchange data with MES and cloud platforms. Smart manufacturing eliminates manual steps and inconsistencies, bringing silos of information together to link them in a full digital thread of automated data exchanges.
The smart factory becomes a node in a connected smart ecosystem with API requirements for partner and customer interaction. The required data exchanges go beyond purchase order, shipment and warranty data if the ecosystem is delivering new data services with the product. For example, if a company is including a product digital twin as an additional service, it must be ready to make accessible, to the ecosystem and customer, 3D and simulation models of the product along with each unit’s unique as-built operational data.
#5. Manufacturing systems are incorporating more automated intelligence
The availability of low-cost sensing, pervasive connectivity and cloud computing services has made it practical to access and holistically analyse data across integrated systems. Unstructured datasets such as images, natural language and even messages in social media have become part of the data available for analysis. More integrated data and AI capabilities are bringing us closer to systems with automated routine decisions where humans intervene only when necessary.
#6. Manufacturing culture is embracing digital
The availability of low-cost sensing, pervasive connectivity and cloud computing services has made it practical to access and holistically analyse data across integrated systems. Unstructured datasets such as images, natural language and even messages in social media have become part of the data available for analysis. More integrated data and AI capabilities are bringing us closer to systems with automated routine decisions where humans intervene only when necessary.
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