Only a generation ago, manufacturing facilities saw the first use of computers on the shop floor to control some minor manufacturing scheduling tasks. Today, computers are ubiquitous in manufacturing plants.
They are found as the source of instructions for robotics used to produce items as complex as automobiles and as simple as reeds for wind instruments. Computers also run internal analysis and diagnostics for machinery used daily in the manufacturing process.
What enables a machine to work well by itself or as part of a work group of like machines is the phenomenon known as machine-to-machine communications (M2M).
What is M2M technology?
M2M in itself is nothing new; it was used by the United States in World War II when radar was used to differentiate between friendly and enemy targets. Your home garage door opener is another example of M2M technology, with the remote opener talking to the garage door opener device.
When used in manufacturing, M2M provides benefits that exceed those of automation alone. M2M communications have the power to reinvent how we do business.
Transformative technologies, such as personal computers, robotics, assembly lines and mobile devices have dramatically altered the way we do business, and M2M can do the same and on a grander scale. The grander scale comes as more and more things connect to one another.
M2M not only applies to the manufacturing sector but also to the transportation, energy and agricultural industries thanks in part to a parallel technology called the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT allows people to use technology to control things we come in contact with on a daily basis.
Years ago, only wealthy people could afford the equipment and monthly monitoring charges for a home burglar alarm system. But today a smartphone and some inexpensive sensors can protect your home with full-time monitoring at a budget-friendly price.
The IoT is now entrenched in our lives and will be reborn in many industries as M2M. The difference is that IoT is more transactional at its base, while the information gathered by one machine in a plant that embraces M2M is sent to all parts of the plant where the data is used and decisions are made automatically according to pre-existing measures.
Why M2M will emerge in industry?
Productivity gains in manufacturing and other industries have climbed, making employees more efficient at work and even having machines replace people where it makes sense.
For example, SKU numbers are machine readable as long as there is a line of sight between the SKU and the reader. Today, that same job is done by a single radio frequency identification (RFID) scanner. All during the production day, the RFID scanner sends information collected from each scanned tag to a central repository so that stock can be renewed for production.
This process can be replicated for things such as maintenance, consumable supply ordering, manufacturing supplies and more.
If you can attach a sensor to one thing and a receiver to another thing that causes a third "thing" to happen, you have a small M2M network — attach more "things," and your network grows more.
There is a business case to be made for M2M, and if you are not the one making the case, someone else in your company will.
