IoT Internet of Things
The world of technology has always been rich in acronyms and Englishisms, so much that sometimes shedding light on the information you read becomes a grueling little business. However, clarity is important, as the internet revolution is in full swing and backwardness is not only a cultural disadvantage but also an economic disadvantage. They know something the contemporary companies in every field: those who do not conform do not stand up to competition.
How many reading the term IoT could define its meaning? The acronym born form the word Internet of Things, which literally translated into Italian means “internet delle cose”, o “internet degli oggetti”. A definition that is already current to describe all those concrete objects, of everyday life, that use internet connections to offer features that otherwise they would not have. No need to disturb the imaginative world of futuristic-themed films to find some practical and very close examples of IoT. Try to think of a pair of shoes or smartwatch for the latest generation of sports. Devices capable of measuring your vital parameters, tracing routes and offering complete reports about the performance performed during a run, transmitting this data to your smartphone and PC in real time. The applications are endless and in full development, not only at home, school, education or entertainment, but also especially in the industrial and manufacturing sector.
Industry 4.0 the meaning of the fourth industrial revolution
The Internet of Things offer huge opportunity in the industrial world, with a revolution often the victim of heated discussions and bitter criticism from the most skeptical or refractory to change and innovation. The reality is that the fourth industrial revolution is already underway and is now unstoppable, to be able to adapt you just have to do other than study, update, understand and model the possibilities both on the profile of the economic advantage for your company but also for the workers. Industry 4.0 is the one that evolves by exploiting the automation of production processes and controls, to improve the productivity of the machines and of the instrumentation, the working conditions of the operators, and to reduce or better monitor the expenditure of electricity. The advantages are felt all the same, both in the speed of execution and in the increase in production and in the general saving of resources and electricity.
Like any revolution, for the Industry 4.0 will need time and not just the adaptation by the companies, but also the evolution of the school world in the formation of new job figures in step with the demand. For the sake of clarity it is good to keep in mind that this revolution could put an end to a large number of jobs, a phenomenon that you will have heard often discussed by the most skeptical, defined simplistically with the banal concept of "machine that replaces man". It is good to keep in mind however that man in this way could redefine his role within the world of work and production processes not as an adversary of the machine and a figure that spends his whole life performing mechanical, repeated and exhausting. Instead, it is like the irreplaceable element that will instead insert the critical thought and creativity, that magic brought by the imagination so vital and irreplaceable, that the precise and tireless work of the machine will never be able to emulate.
The manufacturing success stories
There are many successful examples of Italian and non-Italian manufacturing companies that have embraced the 4.0 industry brought by the Internet of Things. The sector is perhaps the one that is benefiting the most from all of the obvious advantages of technological progress. By opening a small parenthesis, outside the manufacturing industry you have certainly heard of giants of the caliber of Amazon or Apple, but instead returning to manufacturing, the World Economic Forum has named only 16 excellences. Among these, next to giants such as BMW, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, or Bosch who immediately proceeded to apply to 4.0, two names with state-of-the-art facilities in our country.
The first is Bayer, in Garbagnate, the famous multinational pharmaceutical company, the second is the very Italian Rold in Cerro Maggiore, certainly less famous if you are not from the sector, which deals with the production of components for household appliances.
The report of the World Economic Forum and McKinsey, has given these companies the title of world champions without discriminating against Rold, which is in effect a small company, and thus launching an important message to the entire manufacturing industry: to evolve it is possible, even in the face of limited investments and is not an exclusive luxury of the multinationals.
The report concludes by inviting companies to follow these examples as models for growth and correct development, keeping not only the praises of the technological component high, but also inviting them to constantly keep an eye on the values of indispensable respect for the human component. Technology at the service of man and not in its place of replacement, training in advanced skills that enable the creation of jobs for the future, respect for the environment with greater awareness of energy consumption and the impact of its activity on the climate level.
An understandable example of tools for industries 4.0
To simply read cases of success, of technical definitions and theories of industrial evolution and the world of work, at the conceptual level could light up a few light bulbs especially among the less experienced in the sector. But since we talk about the internet of things and that the reality of things and objects is made of concreteness and practice, it is not a crime to simply ask yourself: how do you update your company? How can a manufacturing industry actually be brought into 4.0? What does it take to succeed?
All this is possible thanks to an update of equipment, installation of specific devices and the requalification or complete training of operators, addressing specialized companies and professionals.
An example are technologies like Rotilio, from Techmakers. Rotilio IoT Lab, is a device capable of monitoring different aspects and machinery within the company, rather simple to use, consult and therefore to learn to manage. For example, it can connect to an app and impeccably report apparently trivial information such as switching lights on and off in certain rooms, starting or leaving a machine that records vibrations, changes in temperature, humidity and pressure in the room. environment and more. This machine, taken as a practical example, can help you understand how a single tool that collects information and communicates it to people, can save energy and time, thanks to the numerous surveys to be performed otherwise with the relative tools and times.
4.0. in conclusion it is not the future but it is already the present of a reality that is writing an important phase of human history, in which even the choices of small businesses will make the difference. Although there are reservations and difficulties, here it is no longer a matter of experimenting or becoming pioneers of something new and uncertain, but of applying promptly to an inevitable change and trying to do it in the most ethical and advantageous way.
