Monitor the performance of an industrial machinery: how to do it and the advantages

The Internet of Things represents the revolution of the century, it allows to create a close link between the physical and the electronic environment. In these years the use of this technology is becoming increasingly widespread, expanding the number of associated devices and fields of application: from the home to the building sector, from the automotive industry to robotics, from healthcare to animal husbandry, reaching the industrial monitoring of which we'll talk.

The term Industry 4.0 takes its cue from what has been defined by some scholars as the fourth industrial revolution, which is based on an increasingly consolidated automation, setting itself the goal of improving the working conditions and productivity of companies, incorporating new technologies within industries belonging to the most varied sectors.

The Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 are systems designed to improve operational efficiency and industrial productivity, while also creating greater international competitiveness. In Italy, the National Industry 4.0 Plan was launched, to which all companies must refer to fit into what has been called the fourth industrial revolution. The Plan is based on three fundamental aspects: technological neutrality, horizontal actions and enabling factors. The Italian government has made available to all numerous documents in support of this system, to try to introduce the largest number of companies to the new plan and to ensure that the entire industrial sector is accompanied within this new and difficult process. starts to undertake.

According to some estimates over the next year the devices connected to the IoT system will be over fifty billion, the sectors that are already involved in this revolution are those of the smart cities (connected cities), smart buildings and smart homes (connected houses and buildings), automotive, smart agriculture, smart manufacturing and even the public administration. In a few years, therefore, we will see a speeding up of most systems and a better quality of life at home, in the city, at work and even an improvement in terms of sustainability and environmental contribution.

Industrial monitoring stems from companies' need to improve their productivity by reducing waste of time and resources and guaranteeing optimal production quality. Thanks to the introduction of IoT technologies within the industry, it is possible to collect and process data from machines in real time, allowing companies to draw up detailed production plans, focusing on the improvements to be implemented.

With the use of IoT specific products for monitoring, companies are able to receive data on the quantity and quality of the energy used in their plant, to remotely control alarm systems but also to switch machinery on and off and receive reports of detail about production activity. All the data collected and the possibility of acting remotely on your machines allows a conscious management of the resources used for production, significantly reducing waste.

The reports then allow a detailed analysis, through graphical representations, of all the parameters that you want to monitor, also generating a document that can be consulted to check the progress of the production.

Constant monitoring of machinery also allows predictive maintenance of machinery, ie by collecting information on certain parameters it is possible to fix in advance the maintenance operations necessary for the machinery to work at its best reducing production downtime.

Due to its characteristics and the objectives that industrial monitoring is set for, it is one of the most innovative aspects in the revolution brought by the Internet of Things in the industry, in fact more and more companies consider it essential to know the detail of the productive activity in order to be more and more efficient.