Best Practices in Using the Internet of Things for Smart Manufacturing

The Internet of things (IoT) connects the unconnected. (Anything that has a port!) It’s the next generation of the Internet. But don’t just connect things. Be intentional. Your IoT strategy should be all about:

1. Making more money (increasing revenue)
2. Saving more money (decreasing costs)
3. Making people safer

How to do this? The CEO should spearhead a workshop with operations and IT to:

1. Identify your biggest challenge/pain point/process breakdowns.
2. Identify a killer use and build the business case around it.
3. Identify the current process being used and metrics.
4. Design and launch a pilot.
5. Have a strategy to build out that first backbone for future growth.

Focus on 4 elements: Things, Issues, Process and People.

1. Things – focusing on the obvious:
-Build out for growth
-Ethernet IP is moving IoT toward more wireless
-Devices need to get to your cloud without going through lots of walls (security issue)

2. Issues – around data:
-Used to increase visibility and quality of the data
-Predictive in nature
-Needs a secure environment
-Who needs access and how do we make it readable

3. Process – common processes that can be improved:
-Track inventory (manual checking)
-Optimize production process
-Decrease downtime
-Predictive maintenance and repair

4. People – things to be aware of:
-Need to manage the cultural change
-Need to agree on protocols between suppliers and customers

This 2015 Smart Manufacturing Summit CEO Solutions Exchange was sponsored by Cisco Systems, Inc. Please contact the session thought leaders for more information on how Cisco can help you converge unrelated networks, scale to meet increasing traffic demands, employ advanced data analytics, and inspire a new class of intelligent applications-to increase productivity without sacrificing security.

Weston (Wes) Sylvester
Regional Manager, Internet of Things Group
Cisco Systems, Inc.
wsylvest@cisco.com | 919-392-7637

Bryan Tantzen
Senior Director, Discrete Manufacturing, Internet of Things Group
Cisco Systems, Inc.
btantzen@cisco.com | 408-902-3980

Facilitator: Kristin Arnold, President, QPC Inc. – The Extraordinary Team, Tel: 480.502.2100 or 800.589.4733 | www.extraordinaryteam.com