Industrial Automation Magazine India

IIoT implementations need full involvement of key internal stakeholders

Published on : Friday 08-10-2021

Sujata Tilak, Managing Director, Ascent Intellimation.

Today, most industry stakeholders are aware of the many benefits of IIoT, yet are wary of joining the revolution. What could be the reasons?
There are several reasons, but following main reasons stand out:
-Insufficient clarity on business objectives 
-Insufficient visibility on RoI
-Choosing point solutions which are not scalable horizontally and/or vertically, and
-Lack of skilled manpower internally to drive and sustain the initiatives.

What are the challenges manufacturers face in adopting IIoT solutions?
There are many challenges in adoption. But I would like to highlight a fundamental issue that comes up often.
 
IIoT implementations need full involvement of key internal stakeholders and continuous dialog between solution provider and internal stakeholders. Many companies embark on IIoT projects without properly planning for this. Many solution providers don’t insist on this. This results in incorrect/incomplete translation of requirements into solutions as well as poor understanding of the implemented system. If the gap is large and nobody on both sides makes concerted efforts to close the gap, it starts a chain reaction of expectation mismatch, enhancement versus issue debates, improper and inconsistent usage, inadequate/incorrect output from the system and finally results in failure of the initiative.

Is the manufacturing sector, especially the SMEs, constrained by the paucity of system integrators?
IIoT implementation needs multi-disciplinary skills. From industrial automation to networking to IT to IIoT. Thus industrial automation integrators are only a part of it. Solution providers have to build internal/external teams with these different skills and offer an end to end solution to customers. And this is what is currently lacking in the market.

Experts believe lack of skills is one of the main reasons for low adoption. How true is this?
This is very true. It manifests on both customer and solution provider sides. As I mentioned above, a solution provider has to build a team with multi-disciplinary skills to successfully deliver the solution.
 
But equally important is having what we call as ‘Digital Champions’ internally on the manufacturer side. These are the people who understand the requirements and business benefits very well. They understand the solution and work with the solution provider to set it up to extract maximum returns. They guide other users and ensure consistent usage of the system. They also look for continuous improvements and tweak the system as required.
 
We at Ascent Intellimation are committed to the IIoT revolution and are doing efforts to evangelize and make the industry ready for embracing IIoT. As a part of this, we have launched a training program for ‘digital champions’. This will help manufacturers to derive maximum benefits from their IIoT implementations.   

In the Indian context, IIoT should actually resonate more with the solutions for brownfield plants, yet the response is slow.
In brownfield plants, optimum connectivity solutions are the key. If they have to invest huge sums of money to make their assets connectible with the latest technologies, the RoI math doesn’t work. So what is needed is to prepare a cost-benefit analysis for each connectivity option. For example, getting basic data from electrical signals versus electrical signals + sensors versus upgrading/replacing PLC.
 
The sad part is many solution providers don’t get into these nitty-gritties as it involves considerable time investment or some simply don’t understand this.

How can the manufacturing sector overcome these hurdles and arrive at a holistic approach?
Discussions above have pointers to holistic approach and I will summarise them below:
-Clarity on business objectives and preparation of IIoT roadmap in sync
-Choose a solution which is scalable horizontally and vertically. Don’t go for point solutions
-Choose a solution partner who can put together a multi-disciplinary team and deliver 
-Do cost-benefit analysis and insist on optimum connectivity options for your assets
-Designate and train internal ‘Digital Champions’
-However cliché it may sound, IIoT is a journey. Be prepared to work with your partner every step of the way, and
-Put in place a mechanism to measure the benefits, tweak the system and continuously improve.

Sujata Tilak, successful entrepreneur and technologist, is a thought leader in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and convergence of Industrial Automation and Information Technology. She has ably led Ascent Intellimation as a leading provider of Industrial IoT solutions. Ascent has developed an IIoT platform, PlantConnect, which is deployed in areas like environmental monitoring, smart manufacturing, reliability engineering, etc. Sujata’s focus is to help organisations recognise and embrace diverse ways in which manufacturing data can be beneficially used by various stakeholders. Sujata is active in organisations like ISA, IIC, TiE and CII, and is Director, ISA Smart Manufacturing and IIoT Division and District VP, ISA District 14.