Day after day, it's becoming easier to realize that IoT has been transforming the way manufacturers identify and solve problems on the shop floor. And one of the most important partners to achieve this goal is wireless solutions (such as wi-fi, 3g 4g, and 5g connections). After that, all the features of connected devices have been developing a fantastic job to increase productivity, reduce costs and make the life of machine builders easier on this matter.  For them (and of course, their customers), decision making for machine maintenance is often based on a reactive, not proactive attitude. This means that hours or days are lost on both sides when a problem occurs, especially in a more distant factory. The above case is quite common and happens in most relationships between factories and OEMs. And this can become a real headache. But there are a few options to avoid this problem. For instance, by remotely monitoring different machine components, OEMs can detect excess vibration before it causes unplanned downtime (and this is a great operation advantage). Besides vibration, sensors also can send temperature, presence, and general performance data to a wireless logic controller or PLC for collection and…

Written by Infraspeak team! We live in the era of Industry 4.0, which is the revolutionary digitalization of manufacturing that involves Big Data, which is the concept that studies all the data gathered and managed. And managing and generating data are a crucial part of this process in all companies.  Why generate data? A well-run, efficient and productive company relies on data to achieve greater goals. But why? Well, there are a lot of perks in doing that: Decision-making One of the toughest and more stressful tasks leans on decision-making. Insecurities creep in and the human mind gets in the way. And how to avoid this situation? Analytics and data. By generating data, decision-making almost becomes a mathematical and analytical question. Depending on the industry, data can reveal essential intel regarding your own company, the field in general or global traits that can boost its efficiency. Harnessing data can, for example, help you find and retain new clients, improve your customer experience, predict new trends, enhance your marketing strategy and even track social media and its potential. Problem-solving Besides relieving you of making hard decisions on your own, it also helps you with solving problems. No company…

I don't think I need to convince you that industry is changing and a revolution is happening in front of our own eyes, right? So, let's skip this part and go straight to the point... We've listed 10 statistics that support the above statement. Some of them take your breath away. Are you ready? Click the orange circles and check the first 5 statistics in the interactive image.   6 . Data and analytics are becoming increasingly important to decision-making (packaging industry) A report from PWC on Digital Transformation shows that 83% of respondents in forest, paper & packaging industry believe that data analysis will be a core factor to decision making in 5 years. When asked about the current situation, this figure is 55%. There's a great development opportunity here! 7. Most companies don’t yet have mature data analytics capabilities (yet) According to the same report mentioned above, only 18% of survey respondents rate the maturity of their data analytics capabilities as advanced, and more than half say that the lack of skills and competencies in their company’s workforce is a key challenge to making full use of data analytics. 8. Companies will have 5%% of…

Post wrote by Infraspeak Team. The technological world has been flooded with concepts and new topics  - and it’s normal to get lost in the midst of it all. Let’s focus on one of its highlights: The Internet of Things (IoT). We’ve all heard about it, but do we really know what it means? In the simplest terms, the Internet of Things comprises all stuff that connects to the internet, enabling all devices to gather information, analyze data and even take action. As Caroline Gorski, the head of IoT at Digital Catapult assesses: “it’s about networks, it’s about devices, and it’s about data”, it works as a “brain”, streamlining, enabling connectivity and warranting communication between everything internet-related. It’s considered one of the most critical and encouraging concepts of our time. To put in perspective: researchers estimate that is over 20 billion devices are connected and this number will increase as the world becomes “smarter” and “smarter” (not literally, just conceptually). With this technologically-driven world, concepts such as Smart Buildings (providing unique comfort and productivity in workplaces, for example) and Smart Cities (reducing environmental footprint, relieving the people of time-costing and stress situations by improving transportation, and increasing…

Does Your Packaging Manufacturing Plant Know Its Scrap Rates? In which stage of the scrap reporting are you? Alongside downtime, scrap rates (or waste) are a major concern for any plant manager, especially in the packaging industry. Although the numbers vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer, when we look at in-line production facilities (where all machines are connected in series), scrap rates of 15-25% are completely normal. During this time, the plant is consuming energy, raw material and equipment uptime. This means that for every 4 hours of production, the company is throwing material, energy and equipment time in the bin. The struggle to reduce these numbers is hard, daily and constant, and only one thing is for sure: you cannot do it without reliable production numbers, just by looking in the rearview mirror. Although almost every piece of equipment has integrated counters for rejected parts, few companies collect this data automatically to transform it into intelligence. As a result, they end up depending on manual notes, the nightmare of information reliability. Digital Maturity in the Packaging Industry Benchmarking Report: Download it now for free! Anyone who has spent a few hours on the factory floor knows:…