Production managers usually find out at the end of the shift, or the week, how much the line produced and where it stood still. With industrial IoT that information is in front of them as it happens: output counts, stoppages and their causes, temperature and pressure, power use and the state of every machine, on a computer or a phone.
Where the data comes from
If your line has PLCs or networked equipment, we read the data over protocols such as Modbus (RTU and TCP), OPC UA and MQTT and send it to the server, without touching the PLC program.
When a machine has no network output
Many older or simpler machines have no way to send data at all. In that case we design an interface board (gateway) and install it on the machine. The board reads digital and analogue signals, such as a production counter, whether a motor is running, a temperature sensor or a power meter, and sends them to the server over the plant network, Wi-Fi or a SIM card. If the connection drops, the data is kept on the board and sent once it is back. Wiring, panel installation and commissioning are part of the job.
Dashboards, alerts and reports
On top of the data we build live production dashboards: overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), run-time and downtime, energy use and output trends. When a value leaves its limits or a machine stops for no reason, the person responsible gets a text message or a notification. Daily and monthly reports are produced automatically.
Next step: analysis and prediction
Once a few months of data have built up, data analysis and machine-learning models can find the patterns behind breakdowns, show the best settings for the line, and let you plan a repair before a machine fails.