As the Internet of Things (IoT) grows at an ever increasing rate it is penetrating almost every area of our lives. The internet of things can be found in everything from health care to household appliances. One of the areas where it stands to make the greatest significant improvements is in the manufacturing industry. This article intends to look at the effects of the IoT on manufacturing in general, and specifically at a case study of how it is being used in the manufacturing of carbide dies. This is a key industry that essentially makes parts that make parts. Carbide dies and tooling are used in the manufacturing of a wide variety of products in almost every industry, from automotive to zoological. Carbide dies and tooling literally provide the nuts and bolts of our economy, and the IoT has the power to give greater control of things as small as nuts and bolts to manufacturers. The internet of things offers great promise, although we will also be looking at its potential downside as well.
A revolution in manufacturing has been unfolding since the 1980’s when CNC (Computer Numerical Controls) were first introduced. This is essentially the use of computers to direct the machining process as opposed to having it done strictly by human machinists. CNC machining represents a huge leap forward in production capabilities, however only recently has this been connected to the entire manufacturing process through the use of the IoT. In the carbide die industry CNC tooling has become an asset in large production runs allowing for programming of specific operations to be completed by machines automatically, however, without the IoT how will manufactures be able to keep track of where their tungsten carbide dies are in the process and when they will be completed?
With the IoT a vast amount of data can be collected and analyzed to determine how a product is running though production. Not only can information from the CNC machine be collected but also information from inspection equipment used after parts are manufactured. In our example, after the carbide dies are produced they are inspected using micrometers, calipers and other inspection tools. These tools will be connected to the internet to give the full picture of how the production of the dies is going. Carbide dies can be tracked as they proceed through the facility and their quality can be gauged as well.
Furthermore, in our example, tools used to produce dies can be tracked. Way to much productive time has been spent due to a trainee putting a tool in the wrong place and a highly paid machinist wasting time to locate it. With the effective use of tagging (location technology using IoT) tooling can be quickly located. Tractability of both carbide dies and tooling can be accomplished quickly and efficiently. Basically, with IoT manufactures can quickly analyses their entire production process and eliminate waste in the areas of raw materials, production time and even human resources.
IoT can also be used to monitor what employees do using ID cards connected to the internet of things as well. However, like every great innovation the internet of things has a darker side. Employees may find it intrusive, giving their bosses a bit too much over site. Another, perhaps greater issue is security.
Going back to our example of a carbide die manufacturer, let’s suppose an unscrupulous competitor was able to hack into their system by parking a car outside their facility and breaching their Wi-Fi login codes. They could then take control of the machines inside, instructing them to essentially self-destruct by commanding them to manufacture dies that aren’t even in the machines. After wreaking havoc, the perpetrator simply drives off. The scariest thing is that the perpetrator probably doesn’t even have to be in the same country now days. Obviously security is going to be an extremely important issue moving forward.
Carbide Die manufacturing future
That being said, this is the future of manufacturing and the risks in this area are no greater than those presented to every other area of life that will be effected by the Internet of things. Progress always seems to have a downside, but in the end it is the future after all. In our example of carbide die manufacturing this represents a way to move forward in productivity. In our complicated world making things that make things more efficiently matters and the internet of things is the next step forward.