IoT Platform – The Basis For New Business Models With Innovative Products

With an IoT platform, not only can production in the production halls be optimized, but it also enables.

For a long time, the focus of producers was on their products. When people talked about digitization, the main thing was to optimize the manufacture of these products with a digital kick at the click of a button: The manufacture should become more efficient, faster and cheaper. As numerous use cases show, this concept also works: The retrofitting of production machines (retrofit), the connection to an IoT platform, and the networking of these intelligent machines is a successful model.

Machine-as-a-Service, Machine2Machine, Machine2People and Machine2ERP are just examples of how comprehensive communication in the production halls has become since the advent of digitization. It is communicated more than ever, but annoying tasks such as the paperwork for documentation and orders are no longer necessary.

The IoT Platform Opens The Way To Predictive Maintenance

For a long time, manufacturing companies achieved the majority of their sales through their products, but today they can also bring about company growth by expanding their range of products. In this specific use case, the aim was to create added value through information on usage and automated re-ordering and maintenance of products. The customer in this case study is a manufacturer of chemical products. Due to the topicality of the case described, the project is still top secret and is only presented anonymously concerning goal, solution and benefit.

IoT Platform: Products Transformed Into Intelligent Machines

The intelligent products were implemented by retrofitting existing product modules with sensors and communication technology. In addition, a customer portal was created with information on the use and current maintenance status of the products. This means that products report themselves when they need maintenance. With the help of Industry 4.0 solutions such as an IoT platform, the consequences could be transformed into “intelligent machines”.

With the help of sensors attached to the product, a direct and fully automatic message is sent to the ERP system via the Internet of Things when the product requires care or maintenance. The manufacturer knows that his service technician has to maintain the product accordingly on site. In addition to the product, the manufacturer can now also sell maintenance as a service, which he receives as an order fully automatically thanks to the connection to the IoT platform.

The internet capability of the products creates large amounts of data (big data), which in turn can be used to optimize use and maintenance: With applications from the field of artificial intelligence, an evaluation is possible that enables predictive maintenance and planning around the products.

Optimization using the IoT platform is possible in a large number of application areas:

• Added value: new, data-driven business model
• Control: constant information about the maintenance status of the products
• Planning: predictive handling of products and processes (predictive maintenance)
• Costs: more sales through an expanded service model
• Quality: Positioning as a premium provider through development added value

Based on eight use cases with an IoT platform, This shows which objectives or problems were addressed with which solutions and which benefits the companies could derive from them.