Keywords: Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industrie 4.0, IT/OT Convergence, Smart Manufacturing
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and its potential to transform production operations is one of the hottest current topics in manufacturing. Along with Industrie 4.0, IT/OT convergence, and Smart Manufacturing, the IIoT is cited as the latest means for making manufacturing production more flexible, more cost effective, and more responsive to changes in market demand. Not surprisingly, numerous market forecasts attempt to quantify the potential inherent in the Internet of Things (IoT), promising that billions of “things” or devices, worth trillions of dollars, will soon be connected.
ARC Advisory Group’s latest report on the topic answers a different but equally important question: how many industrial automation devices are and will be available for incorporation into the IIoT? Drawing on ARC’s 30 years of quantifying the market for industrial control devices, this research assesses the potential IIoT market from the realistic perspective of the number of installed and shipped devices that can potentially connect to the IIoT. Focused specifically on connected devices used in manufacturing production, the analysis excludes connected end devices such as automobiles, jet engines, or television sets.
“The Total Available Market (TAM) potential for the Industrial Internet of Things will climb to over $280 billion by 2019. These figures represent the value of connectable devices used in manufacturing production that have the potential to be included in IIoT applications” according to Vice President Chantal Polsonetti, the principal author of ARC’s “Total Available Market for the Industrial Internet of Things Global Market Research Study”.
IIoT’s Incremental Value to Manufacturers
Reduced machine downtime and 100 percent system availability are primary drivers behind the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), while initiatives such as Industrie 4.0 and IT/OT convergence reflect the perceived competitive advantage of greater production flexibility. Connected devices help reduce downtime through remote monitoring of sensor data, for example, vibration or temperature of rotating equipment, for predictive maintenance purposes. Remote machine access for monitoring and service, along with increased adoption of analytics, cloud-based applications, and Big Data to improve process performance, are primary IIoT-associated enablers pursued to enable business improvements.
The Unique Opportunity to Retrofit Installations
Ability to retrofit the industrial installed base with connectivity, whether through addition of a new module or other communication interface, is important in, and unique to, the manufacturing marketplace. Most manufacturers will not discard an existing installation solely for a connectivity upgrade, which is more often implemented as part of a multi-purpose replacement. Instead, the ability to retrofit allows customers to leave their installations in place while adding incremental connectivity. This is a valuable characteristic given the cost of industrial equipment and, often more importantly, the cost of production downtime.
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