3 Ways IIoT Can Help You Avoid Unplanned Downtime

One of the most financial and production breakdown factories, warehouses and manufacturing plants have seen is unplanned downtime. Manufacturers works at high volume so the unplanned production downtime is costly. Often these unexpected halts are the outcome of production machine failures that could be avoided if data from the machine was available to predict the failure so a planned repair could take place in a standard maintenance frame. Not only this but also it will also save the repair cost.

Predictive maintenance is possible with the help of Industrial IoT after all; there is a solution for everything. Time based maintenance cost is the loss of man-hours and finance. It is predicted that unplanned downtime costs industrial manufacturers $50 billion each year.

Industrial IoT is about the wireless network of the connected devices and smart sensors that captured data insights for production life. It also contains the reorganization of the facility that focuses on unplanned downtime threats. The Industrial Internet of Things Solutions can help you with manufacturing process while minimizing such a concern.

Taking benefit of this technology a more powerful and progressive form of communication, applications across the industry are recognizing a more holistic view of their machinery that is more definitive, safe, precise and automated. So what are the ways that IIoT avoid unplanned downtime?

Here are three ways IIoT can help manufacturers to avoid unpredicted production issues:

1. Preventive maintenance schedule

Many manufacturers decide when to do maintenance on production line equipment depends on a machine’s specification guidelines. Though, various machines can run at distinct speeds and durations which may not follow the specification guidelines. The best thing to work on the downtime is to assure that manufacturing is not suspended due to any breakdown. There is no doubt that at one specific point equipment will lose its capability to operate and hence the lifespan schedule must be maintained. Is there any alternative?

With the help of a facility-wide IIoT solution, production managers and facility managers can schedule and execute condition based maintenance on key machinery. One of the ways it can be done is via vibration sensors which estimate motor vibration frequency and temperature. If a motor works at 90 % capacity for eight hours a day, it will need maintenance before another motor replaced it that runs at 70 % capacity two hours a day.

Through vibration sensor data, managers can recognize potential mechanical issues such as misaligned coupling and an unbalanced motor. Once a related issue is recognized, maintenance can be scheduled in the time of off-peak or non-active production times. The risk of unplanned downtime is prevented and production can take on like normal.

It aids in improving the effectiveness, productivity and safety of the system. The Internet of Things Solutions is involved in the whole process to make things a bit east for companies to address system. This has a success rate of near about 80% and there are only 20% of cases that might face issues.

2. Maintain Reliability and Sustainability

Apart from production line machinery hiccups, various factors like leaks can result in unplanned downtime. Leaks from cracked or burst pipes can close down the important areas around the production line. For example, the auxiliary area that is not occupied every day can be even more unsafe since no one is more aware about it’s condition. Ignored unmonitored leaks can cause more damage and at the end, will make their way to keep busy main areas which results in unexpected downtime.

Via power metering and flow monitoring, facility managers can analyze pipes and repository tanks for possible water as well as gas leaks. If the storage tank becomes empty at a high speed than an established threshold range, that signals a problem. A flow meter may seize data to specify liquids are moving out of one pipe at a higher speed than usual, which means that there’s a malfunction.

With this data, a plan can be made to preserve the main production area from damage or disruption and detects the cause of the leak. Real-time data gives the entire system a healthy life. By Knowing your oil is only 10% utilized or nearing the end of its life, or that the running temperature or vibration is fluctuating, added up with alerts it is easy to interpret what is exactly happening, where and what to do about it which considerably affect asset management.

3. Maintain Production and Product Quality to Avoid Delays

In some manufacturing spaces, huge shifts in temperature and relative humidity can affect the raw material quality and lead to delays in scheduled production. A food and beverage company determined that each time one of their employees went in and out of the cold storage room, where raw materials are reserved and if the door was left slightly open. After a specific time, the freezer temperature increased to a point where the ingredients were affected. So, production is unfortunately stopped until another batch of ingredients was ordered and assembled.  

IIoT-enabled temperature and relative humidity smart sensors transfer data to a facility-wide monitoring application. Criteria can be generated from that data so current trends and irregularities can be precisely measured.

Risk Audit is an absolute way to access the crucial risks that can fall in the place for the operations. This system needs advancements with the manufacturers that occur generally for the machines that are old. On the other hand, predictive maintenance is a simple way to work upon the downtime and receive an alert in advance to avoid any major concerns in the future. The important thing is that it saves up a lot of battery life and is inexpensive with a machine.

There are a number of factors in any facility that can create havoc and cause unplanned downtime. Machine issues, leaks, changes in environmental conditions and can all bring production to a stage of a complete stop.

With the help of IIoT facility production managers can start with preventative maintenance, can analyze environmental conditions in crucial areas and dynamically tackle unpredicted events in the facility before they get inferior. Thus IIoT can sustain to avoid unplanned downtime to get the best feasible solution.