The industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), also called the industrial Internet or Industry 4.0, is a network of physical devices, sensors, and machines connected to the Internet for effective data communication.
IIoT provides a leg up for industry by enhancing operational efficiency and productivity, and helping to control industrial operations. It can also offer powerful insights based on the data collected from connected devices, which helps enterprises make intelligent decisions.
The IIoT has the potential to create a competitive edge by lowering costs for enterprises, reducing unplanned downtime, improving machine efficiency, optimizing business processes, improving working environments, and improving safety.
Needless to say, the huge potential presented by the global industrial IoT market is expected to lead to a 26.56% CAGR from 2014-2019.
Three interesting trends to watch in industrial IoT
Creation of new jobs in hybrid industries
New, hybrid industries like precision agriculture, digital medicine and smart manufacturing, are popping up around the industrial Internet. The idea behind these hybrid positions is that machines will be responsible for routine and repetitive tasks, while humans will take up jobs revolving around creative problem-solving, pattern recognition, and collaboration.
Hybrid industries like smart manufacturing demand more knowledge-based experts and decision makers who will focus on tasks like system planning, exception handling, and engineering that cannot be automated. Many manufacturers have achieved higher productivity and quality using robots and hybrid industries have created new categories of jobs such as medical robot designing, intermodal transportation networking, and grid modernization management.
We also expect demand for IT jobs like software development, IT managers and infrastructure managers, user-experience designers, system integration, big data analytics, and IT security to grow during the forecast period.
Shift to human-centered automation
The growing adoption of industrial IoT may lead to a shift in employment structures. We’ve already discussed the idea of a blended workforce where both humans and machines work together to attain outcomes that neither humans nor machines could produce alone. While this has raised some concern about losing jobs to machines, it’s much more likely that technology will be designed and applied to empower people rather than replace them.
The increased use of smart devices, intelligent systems, and robots will transform the skills required in the future. Companies will use intelligent machines and network systems to automate tasks at lower costs and achieve high quality outcomes. This will help people focus more on human-related job elements like creative problem-solving and collaboration. All of this will ultimately lead to higher productivity and a dynamic and more engaging human work experience.
Next generation industrial robots
Robotics technology has come a long way—improved sensors, hardware and software, and technological innovations have made robots intelligent and more autonomous. Many companies are now using these robots in high-cost countries to execute low-skilled work in a bid to gain competitive advantages
Next generation industrial robots from companies like Baxter or Universal Robots even have reprogrammable features that let them to learn new tasks from human workers. These attributes, along with consistently decreasing costs, will help in large deployments of next generation industrial robots over the next few years.
