How IoT Helped Manufacturing Units Stay Productive Through the Pandemic
Tags: iot, iotadoption, iotinmanufacturing
Published: 2021-10-22 05:03:54

Unprecedented times such as the coronavirus pandemic brought in changes worldwide. The widespread adoption of innovative technologies has been one of the most evident changes across various industries. In order to lessen human interaction and still be able to get the work done, these innovative technologies such as IoT, AI, and so on, have delivered the desired results. IoT predominantly has been the key to unlocking newer possibilities and helping business continuity for industries worldwide. Factories and manufacturing units in order to ramp up production due to sudden increase in demand, maintain social distancing on shop-floor and remote management of operations, sought to move to <a href="https://www.xcubelabs.com/services/internet-of-things-services/">IoT applications</a> in manufacturing and other digital capabilities to do so. 

<b>IoT in manufacturing</b> 

IoT is playing a pivotal role in Industry 4.0. Smart manufacturing is taking the world by storm and manufacturing giants are adopting it to take advantage of its benefits. The global smart manufacturing market is growing at an incredible rate owing to the possibilities it brings forward for the manufacturing industry to play upon. Smart manufacturing is an amalgamation of technologies such as AI, blockchain, robotics, and more, and all these coupled with IoT are helping solve business problems and drive greater results thus creating the buzz out there.

Responsiveness and agility in the supply chain, better-informed decisions, easy and early detection of errors/defects, are some of the advantages of bringing in technologies such as IoT into manufacturing. The best advantage, however, during times such as Covid, was how these technologies lessen human intervention and perform tasks with better competence and superiority than humans could, given the need of the hour was also to keep humans safer and less involved with any tasks. ERP and IoT together allow for increased efficiency, as they bring forward better inventory management, smoother functioning of business operations as well as minimizing labor-intensive tasks. IoT in manufacturing also deals with the logistics and optimization of the supply chain. It also ramps up production. The motorcycle giant Harley Davidson for example, anchored on IoT in manufacturing and was able to drive eye-catching results of being able to downsize the production time of one bike from 21 days to 6 hours!

<b>Problems brought about by the pandemic</b>

Operations, distribution, communication and so many more processes were affected when Covid-19 hit the world. Factories were shut down, capacities were affected, extreme demand-supply fluctuations arose, creating complete chaos. Some common issues that had to be managed were:

<li>Manual quality checks replacement</li> 
<li>Managing productivity</li>
<li>Meeting fluctuating demands</li> 
<li>Lessen human intervention</li> 
<li>Optimizing supply chain and logistics</li>
<li>Remotely controlling the operations</li> 

<br>Along with these issues, maintaining the safety of the personnel working on the manufacturing shop floor was a task to handle. Not only people, but the safety of products had to be ensured as it would reach the end customer and the easily spreading virus too if not taken care of. Ensuring and maintaining safety measures meant that it would slow down the manufacturing process, in turn, the capacity as well as productivity. Reducing the personnel from these processes would also affect the productivity levels and obvious time to figure out and adjust to newer measures. According to <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/02/21/fortune-1000-coronavirus-china-supply-chain-impact/">Fortune media</a>, 94% of 1000 fortune companies witnessed supply chain disruptions during Covid-19. The labor shortage was also an obvious risk and outcome as most states were under lockdown and factories could not run with 100% labor capacities to ensure safety. The pandemic also led to fluctuations in demand for certain products, with some of them facing sky-rocketing demands such as food majorly, and some of them reaching an all-time low in terms of demand.</br> 

Thus, Covid-19 definitely shook up the entire industry and led to a lot of changes and adjustments to cope with the uncertainty and severity of the prevailing conditions.

<b>How IoT implementations helped businesses overcome problems</b>

<li>Regular safety and temperature checks were made easier with IoT-controlled access points, which also reduced manual effort and human interruption to do so.</li> 
<li>IoT sensors also enabled organizations to check the number of people/movement on each shop floor and give alerts if any discrepancy occurred.</li> 
<li>IoT sensors helped to check for any defects in production processes that could be monitored remotely. These sensors also facilitated easier maintenance by assigning sensors for any fluctuations in desired temperatures, power consumption, and so on and kept the equipment and machinery running with optimum efficiency.</li> 
<li>Overall operational efficiency was boosted as productivity levels were managed better than before. Better informed decision-making resulted in desired outcomes and improved productivity.</li> 
<li>IoT and cloud-based applications allowed for easy communication, storage, transfer of data, thereby facilitating better communication in times where meeting in person was not possible.</li> 
<li>Wearable devices powered by IoT helped in maintaining social distancing as well as in collecting information required for monitoring activities.</li> 
<li>Manual data collection was replaced by IoT-powered sensors and algorithms that reduced human intervention by a huge amount. This gave real-time insights into operations and conditions which eased out the managing of these processes and improved productivity. These algorithms also helped in checking on quality, figuring out any errors so that immediate action could be taken.</li> 

<br><b>Statistics on IoT adoption during the pandemic and after it</b></br>

Per a <a href="https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/covid-19-impact-on-iot-market-212332561.html">Marketsandmarkets</a> finding, the global impact of Covid-19 on IoT market size is forecasted to grow from USD 150 billion in 2019 to USD 243 billion in 2021 with a CAGR of 13.7% during the period. The same report also stated the reasons for this growth to be the rising need for remote working, minimizing human contact, and demand for wearable devices. According to <a href="http://nasscom.in/knowledge-center/publications/state-iot-post-pandemic-resurgence">NASSCOM</a>, the manufacturing industry was one of the top industries to see major developments in IoT adoption. It also reports that Industrial IoT will see the highest investments in the coming 5 years. As per an Industrial IoT survey <a href="https://www.iotworldtoday.com/2021/09/23/enterprise-iot-adoption-matures-amid-pandemic-inmarsat-study-finds/">Iotworldtoday</a>, 84% of the respondents/organizations reported that they either began or intended to accelerate IoT adoption during Covid to cope with the uncertain disruptions. 
 
In 2020, a <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-10-29-gartner-survey-reveals-47-percent-of-organizations-will-increase-investments-in-iot-despite-the-impact-of-covid-19-">Gartner report</a> revealed that despite the disruptive impact of covid-19, 47% of the organizations planned to increase their investments in IoT. <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/covid-19-an-inflection-point-for-industry-40">Mckinsey</a> also reported that companies that had adopted IoT prior to covid-19 had better responsiveness to the crisis and were better positioned for it as well. This clearly states that IoT applications in manufacturing can be transforming in the best way possible. 
 
<b>Conclusion (the future)</b>

IoT in manufacturing has been and will continue to digitally transform the traditional approaches as well as the operations, functioning, and processes of manufacturing for the better. Adaptability and flexibility to be able to adjust and win over any uncertainties and crises such as Covid-19 has only made the intent to deploy technologies such as IoT into one’s business operations stronger.

IoT applications are being deployed by manufacturers worldwide, owing to its benefits and our extensively curated <a href="https://www.xcubelabs.com/lp/iot-landscape-report-2021">IoT landscape report 2021</a> throws light on how this is happening. It gives an in-depth view of how IoT is transforming the manufacturing industry and how it can be implemented to derive the desired solutions for your organization. 

By now most organizations around the world have understood the need for IoT in manufacturing as also stated by this survey <a href="https://www.iotworldtoday.com/2021/09/23/enterprise-iot-adoption-matures-amid-pandemic-inmarsat-study-finds/">IoTworldtoday</a> where 52% of the respondents feel that the importance of IoT in dealing with business and operational challenges has been established during the pandemic. Further innovations that are yet to take place in the field of smart manufacturing and IoT applications such as advancements in 5G adoption, digital twin technology and so on that will help us deal with and stand stronger in case of any future challenges.