Industry 4.0/M2M

Industry 4.0 concept gets more and more attention today. This is also known as the 4th industrial revolution. According to this concept, cyber-physical objects (such as medical monitoring tools, self-driving buses at airports, smart heating and A/C systems) communicate with one another, and with people.

In Industry 4.0 Internet of Things is the major building block – it is IoT that makes this kind of interaction achievable.

Beside IoT and Industry 4.0 tandem, another more important interdependences exist in this field. Such a technological breakthrough wouldn’t happen without the spread of these accelerators: Big data and analytics, Augmented reality, Virtual reality, machine learning. Thanks to these technological trends being at place, Industry 4.0 transforms the way factories used to work dramatically.

Industry 4.0 goes in parallel with the wide spreading of Machine to Machine communication (also known as M2M). M2M technology stands for interaction between devices by means of network resources. In other words, devices can now exchang data and perform various actions without human participation. This is actually the key feature of IoT. So, IoT and M2M certainly have something in common, although they are not the same. Being a wider concept than M2M, Internet of things assumes broader integration possibilities. With IoT, interaction is not limited to device-to-device level – additional objects from our surrounding may be involved as well.

Where M2M communication can be applied? Here are just a few examples of M2m applications:

• Remote monitoring systems;
• Prognostic instruments;

Transition to Industry 4.0 brings enormous opportunities to business owners. Such a transformation allows to create value on many levels of the production chain. What particular benefits may be obtained?

• Considerable performance optimization became possible due to high level of automation;
• Errors and malfunctions can be prevented thanks to real-time monitoring and timely alerts;
• If any issues arise, they can be resolved faster and more efficiently;
• Business intelligence tools help prevent unreasonable waste of resources, which, in turn, leads to significant expenses reduction;
• With smart solutions utilized, new insights about business can be obtained – for instance, new areas of potential revenue might be discovered;
• The latest digital trends applied in business processes make it feasible to provide more prompt (even real-time) response to customer requests;
• As a result of large data sets analysis, customization of offerings can be taken to a new level;
• Goods and services quality can be increased dramatically when automation tools and robotics are involved.

These fascinating opportunities, however, are accompanied by certain issues that programming solutions providers should be aware of. What challenges do Industry 4.0 and machine 2 machine bring?

• Security concerns become critical as long as risk of information leaks is getting more and more serious;
• Intellectual property (and especially know-how) should be protected carefully;
• The need to maintain the required stability level;
• The increased complexity of interconnection between units and, hence, the necessity to keep the whole smart infrastructure in order;
• Shortage of qualified staff and the need to improve skills of the specialists accordingly to keep pace with the contemporary instruments.

Here at ISS Art we have solid experience with Industry 4.0 and M2M application in IT projects. Our team has successfully delivered a powerful prognostic instrument for manufacturing companies.

Are you ready for digital transformation of your business? Just drop us an email, and we will discuss how we can bring your workflow to a completely new level. We can start with consulting phase, and, after all the objectives are defined and the software solution vision is agreed upon, we can proceed to development process.