the use case - Wi-NEXT The Industrial Edgeware

US
EC
AS
E
WI-NEXT IIOT
FOOD TREATMENT
www.wi-next.com
Priming a market for IIoT can be easy if they are technology
early adopters. But what if the market is a very traditional
industry with vintage machinery, low margins, and very little
room (if any) for downtime? Let’s take a closer look at the food
treatment space and why you may be surprised to hear it’s one
of the best target markets for IIoT.
INTRODUCTION
The use of the Internet of Things in manufacturing is becoming
more prevalent, whether it is known by the name “IoT” or called
other
things
(factory
automation,
next-generation
Machine-to-Machine, etc.). With the introduction of
network-enabled sensors and Internet connectivity, services
such as predictive maintenance and energy efficiency are now
at the forefront of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). This is
especially prominent in the food treatment business, where the
industry is highly competitive.
This industry is ripe for IIoT. The opportunity to embrace the
benefits of the technology are huge. Sometimes, making the
connection just takes rethinking a traditional industry and
approaching it in an unconventional way.
Gartner supports this in its report “Market Trends: Differentiate
Within Vertical Industries by Leveraging on Internet of Things.”
In it, the analysts say that adoption of the Internet of Things is
growing with manufacturing, which is estimated to have the
largest installed base of things by 2020. Industries are
witnessing the rise of "nontraditional sellers" and are propelling
the blurring of traditional industry boundaries. Gartner says
industry executives are also still struggling to identify viable
business models created by availability of a "connected asset."
We see this, as we’ve been asked, “What is the most concrete,
tangible opportunity that IIoT brings to manufacturers?” The
answer is clear: an easier and less expensive way to connect
invisible assets, i.e. the vintage machines that are completely
digitally disconnected yet already installed all over the world.
They are “invisible” to the IIoT network.
If something can be
done to reduce the risk
of failure – by as much
as 75% - with up to
30% reduction in
maintenance costs and
45% reduction in
downtime, yet also
increasing production
by 20% and a 10x ROI,
wouldn’t you want to
know it?
FOOD TREATMENT MARKET
OVERVIEW
Look at the market: it is mature. Technological innovations on
products such as meat slicers have reached the limit. So where
can manufacturers add significant value? By connecting those
invisible assets. According to Gartner, invisible assets make up
88% of the total machinery installed in the market today.
Identify and implement an add-on for a machine to offer
something “more” and differentiate it from the rest of the
offerings during sales calls and contract negotiation – and that
something isn’t a sharper blade or a thinner cut: it is
productivity, cost savings, efficiency, and predictive
maintenance. It’s IIoT.
This can be a radical mind shift. According to Gartner, “The
Internet of Things is facilitating the industries' transition from a
technology focus to a ‘business outcome’ focus.” Others agree.
According to a report by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants,
“Manufacturers' attitudes towards maintenance are changing.
Maintenance is increasingly seen as a strategic business
function as opposed to a necessary evil.” This is especially true
when it comes to IIoT.
Consider predictive maintenance, a large part of IIoT in
manufacturing and essential for the food treatment market.
According to Roland Berger, “Failure of critical assets was rated
as the most significant risk to operational performance.” If
something can be done to reduce the risk of failure – by as much
as 75% - with up to 30% reduction in maintenance costs and
45% reduction in downtime, yet also increasing production by
20% and a 10x ROI, wouldn’t you want to know about it? IIoT
predictive maintenance has already begun to prove itself.
FOOD TREATMENT CLIENTS
Food treatment clients want viable solutions to sell to
customers. Consider value-added pre-paid and recurrent
services such as predictive maintenance, and energy efficiency
contracts. On the one hand, the client wants to add
differentiators to its offer, yet on the other hand, there is the
need to add new revenue streams from recurrent services with
higher margins.
We identified the key
aspects to make the
solution sustainable
from a technical and
business model point
of view and we
ascertained that in
order to monitor a
product with a unit
value like that of a
meat slicer with a
lifecycle of a few years,
we had to respect some
stringent ‘cost’
parameters in terms of
hardware. We needed
a solution that was
easy to install on the
machines and that was
not expensive.
How to accomplish this keeping a very small footprint and
installing something easily and inexpensively? IIoT. The food
treatment list of solution requirements is stringent, and margin
for error is non-existent.
With special needs for regulatory bodies and government
oversight for safety and food handling, IIoT can become a
helpful system of checks and balances to keep things running
smoothly and avoid potential problems before they start.
SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS
"We identified the key aspects to make the solution sustainable from
a technical and business model point of view and we ascertained
that in order to monitor a product with a unit value like that of a
meat slicer with a lifecycle of a few years, we had to respect some
stringent ‘cost’ parameters in terms of hardware. We needed a
solution that was easy to install on the machines and that was not
expensive.” - Wi-NEXT Food Treatment IIoT Customer
Food treatment customers have very specific requirements
when it comes to IIoT:
• Small footprint
• Low cost of implementation and maintenance
• Able to allow plant personnel to easily leverage the data in
real-time
• Able to ensure privacy and security of the data
• Easy to scale
• High ROI
WI-NEXT EDGEWARE SOLUTION
Wi-NEXT’s Edgeware is an intelligent connectivity solution with a
small footprint able to easily network the retrofit industrial
machinery, collecting data that allows plant personnel to
leverage it in real-time to increase the performance and the
overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of the plant.
Wi-NEXT’s solution is very different that others on the market. It
uses the 802.11 wireless technologies with a small footprint in a
fully distributed, scalable, secure and reliable architecture.
A connectivity solution for the industrial IoT space, it consists of
edge-nodes (hardware) with embedded software to build a
wireless network, and end-nodes (hardware) with embedded
software to interface to the machines and surrounding sensors.
It connects industrial machines and sensors; collects their data
and sends it to the data center, but allows intelligent
management and advanced analytics to occur at the edge to
optimize the business performance of the industrial plants.
It uses an advanced Fog computing architecture to push data
processing out to the edge and closer to the devices for faster
processing to meet client needs.
MAIN FEATURES AND BENEFITS
• An intelligent connectivity solution with a small footprint able
to easily network the retrofited industrial machinery and scale
at a low cost
• More robust wireless networking even in “hostile” industrial
environments due to WiseMESH® technology
• More reliability and less latency due to distributed intelligence
down to the edge
•Cloud-agnostic with simple integration to different
management and analytics platforms
Wi-Next’s Edgeware is
an intelligent
connectivity solution
with a small footprint
able to easily network
the retrofit industrial
machinery, collecting
data that allows plant
personnel to leverage it
in real-time to increase
the performance and
the overall equipment
effectiveness (OEE) of
the plant.
A COMPETITIVE EDGE & IMPACT
Clients need to react to market conditions and competition
quickly. With Wi-NEXT Edgeware, the client can easily enable
value-added services such as predictive maintenance and
energy efficiency, retrofitting the machine and providing useful
data to the plant managers to help improve efficiency and
production, plus lower costs for the client.
Clients have seen dramatic results with Wi-NEXT’s Edgeware
implementation. Major advantages include:
• New revenue streams with high marginality for recurring
services
• Improved performance of the machine
• Optimized the life cycle of the machine
• Greater coverage of the customers needs
• Increased the loyalty of the customers
• More barriers against the competitors
In closing, the food treatment market should seriously and
immediately consider IIoT a valuable tool to reduce costs and
increase operational efficiency. Competitive advantage is
paramount to differentiate from the competition in this
traditional industry, and IIoT-enabled machinery, whether newly
manufactured or retrofitted for “invisible assets”, will be crucial
to maintain market share and mindshare in this field.
For more information about Wi-NEXTz’s IIoT products including
Predictive Maintenance and Edgeware Solutions, please contact
us today.
CONTACTS:
US OFFICE
530 Lytton Avenue,
94301 Palo Alto,
California USA
Ph. +1 (650) 617-3491
ITALY OFFICE
Piazzale Biancamano 8,
20121 Milano - Italy
Ph. +39 02 62032044
www.wi-next.com
[email protected]
@winextcom
NOTE
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