Connected things: the exchange of data between the company and the end user

Twenty billion. This is the number of devices which will be connected to the Internet and capable of transmitting data by 2020. This figure, an estimate determined by leading market analysts, is impressive, and even more so is the amount of data which will be circulating. If we imagine these data, when properly organized and interrelated, become information useful to business, it is difficult to grasp the real strategic value they represent. 

In fact, the technologies in question are able to gather data and quickly turn them into information aimed at increasing interaction with their markets of reference and with customers, but also and above all at improving internal processes and collaboration with the surrounding ecosystem. 

The importance of this transformation is even clearer when considering the push of world governments through the various programs to finance the industries of their own countries. For example, the European program Industry 4.0 or the program Made in China 2025. 

Undoubtedly, one of the sectors benefiting from this transformation is manufacturing. In the past, entrepreneurs preferred to invest in plants and “tangible” assets, equipment and production lines; there was no place for technological innovation in this vision, which has always been considered a asset which is difficult to measure in terms of ROI.

Today, taking as a reference the cases of corporate excellence that are first to reap the benefits of investment in innovation and technology, we have come to understand that technology contributes in every respect to the generation of business. 

American analysts have defined the changes that the Industry 4.0 model is bringing to the manufacturing sector as disruptive– not by chance is this transformation defined as the “fourth industrial revolution”, bigger than the revolution that followed the introduction of information technology in the industrial sector in the 60s and 70s. 

The introduction of Smart Connected Products and Smart Manufacturing is changing not only the business models of companies, with an impact on internal organizations, but is finally changing the role of the end consumer – including B2B customer companies – and how they interact with the products and/or services they purchase. So much so that the end user becomes the main player in the future development of the product they have purchased, rather than just a passive user, thanks to the information they can share within the so-called Smart Factory.

Technologies such as the Internet of Things are supported by the low price of the hardware involved. The availability of affordable sensors and the relatively low cost of connecting to the Internet encourage the emergence and spread of smart connected products, which can provide information on their operation and use once connected.

Similarly, these two conditions have allowed companies to collect accurate information from the factory, from the supply chain and from all parties who interact with it (suppliers, stakeholders, clients, logistics partners, etc.). This is Smart Manufacturing.

The main technologies supporting companies in this process of profound transformation are the Internet of Things (IoT) and Augmented Reality (AR).

The classic example is the field maintenance operative, who needs real-time information on the assembly and disassembly sequences for components, to order a spare part for a product, or even to access the operating instructions for a product in 3D and with animation. All this is entirely feasible through augmented reality systems that, on the customer side, appear on viewers, smartphones or tablets; and on the company side, through specific integration projects, interface and exchange data with existing application systems.

Lutech has been a pioneer in understanding the importance of this phenomenon and in developing the best enabling technologies that would allow the implementation of the Smart Factory for its clients in the manufacturing sector.

Today, with an end-to-end offering that combines hardware components and software solutions, ranging from sensor design to analytics management, Lutech is one of the most important developers of Industry 4.0 projects.

More specifically, Lutech has developed and develops projects with precise goals:

• Connecting products to make them more efficient and effective to use and to create new sales and service methods (i.e. from predictive maintenance to selling as a service).
• Connecting “things” to interact with consumers in order to build completely new service usage models (e.g. washing machines and dishwashers able to suggest the most suitable programs).
• Connecting factories in order to make the production process and use of resources more efficient and effective. For example, calculating the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) of plants or analytics management customized for each company on the basis of models identified by machine learning engines. Identifying algorithms for optimizing the use of plant and equipment. Predictive and prescriptive maintenance models based on algorithms present in the software solutions and optimized by the systems according to the customer’s specifics.

In order to be applied in a sustainable model, Industry 4.0 requires a partner like Lutech, able to define a customer-specific digital transformation roadmap, choose the technologies that best meet the customer’s targets, and protect any investments which have already been made. 
Are you ready?