What’s the Role of IoT in the Recovery of Industries Post Covid?
During the Covid-19 crisis, we limited human-to-human interaction in order to keep the virus from spreading. This triggered an increasing demand for technologies that facilitate remote access and accurate data insights.
Businesses across the industrial landscape have also adopted automation and Internet of Things (IoT) in an accelerated manner. IoT devices that are powerful and affordable can help mitigate the post-Covid growth challenges efficiently.?
Challenges Faced by Companies
Companies have been considering the following aspects of business growth to cope with the challenges of the post-Covid era:
Industrial IoT to the Rescue
Industrial IoT (IIoT), a key component of Industry 4.0 operations, is coming to assist businesses as they adapt to the new normal. IIoT has proven its worth on numerous occasions in recent years following the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, with technological advancements in every field, most corporate leaders see IIoT as a vital improvement lever in times of crisis.
When the COVID-19 restrictions went into effect in March 2020, technology played a significant role in guaranteeing business continuity by enabling work from home and remote communication.
Different businesses are now exploring ways to leverage technology to continue working from home, preserve social distance conventions, and conduct contactless transactions.
IoT is well positioned to aid smart recovery because it allows devices/assets that are physically separated to interact and connect with one another.
Sustenance and Business Growth in Industry 4.0
Manufacturers should investigate wisely and take the following actions to improve robustness:?
1)?????Accentuate the adoption of virtual workplaces
Enterprise resource management,?IT systems, and manufacturing and process control systems are all widely used by manufacturers. Manufacturers can build detailed, real-time views of their company and operations from anywhere by embracing the virtual workplace more quickly and employing an integration platform to combine data from various sources.
Data can circulate between supply chains, allowing for the early detection of trends by partners. As a result, choices on where to redeploy raw materials, supplies, and staff will be made more quickly and effectively. For instance, factory activities may be scaled back in a virus-hot zone while being increased in a region that is recuperating.
2)?????Expand the reach of production networks using Blockchain and Augmented manufacturing
The ability to trade with networks of local businesses/manufacturers using smart contracts and Blockchain's distributed ledgers is made simpler with mature integration. This assures a broad variety of sources for components and materials, or even finished items.
In order to do this, firms must embrace the mentality that their intellectual property includes invention, creativity, and product design. Greater resilience in a downturn is made possible through wider networks.
How Industrial IoT Continues to Have a Positive Impact Globally, Post Covid
1.??????Working from home ensuring employee safety – Post Covid, there is a wave of change in work dynamics. Activities that can be executed remotely are being done from offsite locations. And work from home is here to stay, at least for the time being, within corporate workplaces.
2.??????IoT solutions for social distancing - Smart trackers and location-specific IoT sensors can be used to efficiently?monitor if individuals in a factory or other workspace maintain a safe distance from one another while working, and alarms can be issued to the main system if some predefined safety protocol?is violated. Furthermore, integration with AI/ML solutions like monitoring devices can aid in the creation of efficient operations inside the facility.?
3.??????IoT solutions enabling seamless transactions – Through the use of Blockchain technology and tokenization, assets can be securitized. This enables the representation of real assets in the digital format, and they are linked to their associated value. Tokenization has revolutionised the way we invest in assets, and this disruption is predominant in the financial sector.
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4.??????Ensuring equipment and employee safety using remote monitoring - Regular inspections are required not just to prevent downtime of equipment but also to protect the safety of workers working in that location. IoT can help here by enabling remote asset monitoring and management.
Remote asset monitoring and management can be coupled with AI-powered solutions to ensure predictive maintenance.
Industrial Applications and Implementation of IoT Solutions
1.??????Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Industry
To ensure the quick deployment of smart medical diagnostics in light of the current pandemic and the issues it entailed, more and more providers are relying on?IoT solutions.?Traditional healthcare is gradually being?replaced?by telemedicine and remote care.?Connected diagnostic technologies eliminates the need for individuals to see their healthcare providers to?receive prescriptions or medical advice.?
The global requirement for medicine production shot up during and post the Covid-19 pandemic. Temperature, humidity, light, radiation, and other environmental factors that affect drug development must be highly accurate. Any failure might result in the project being abandoned, incurring significant losses. Real-time monitoring and management of these circumstances are made possible by IoT in the pharmaceutical sector.
2.??????Retail and e-commerce sectors
Contactless delivery inside stores can be done using mechanical devices and robots.
Strategically positioned IoT sensors within the establishments can collect data that can be used to learn more about the patterns of customer traffic. This can further assist them in ensuring safety and hygiene when customers arrive. In order to reduce the amount of time individuals spend waiting in lines, indoor positioning and location-tracking IoT applications can help.?
Leveraging IoT can be a gamechanger for ecommerce businesses.
More on the recent transformation of the retail sector in this article - How COVID-19 has Forced the Retail Sector to Root for Digital Adoption
3.??????Manufacturing and Production Industry
Manufacturing is a capital-intensive sector of the economy. Numerous companies were in the red as a result of the lockdown, and they have started recouping.?
Utilizing a network of linked intelligent devices, the Industrial Internet of Things (II0T) may assist enterprises in increasing production while maintaining operational safety. Businesses who were utilising IIoT in part need to expand their usage. People who have not yet adopted Industry 4.0 must do so right away.
4.??????Agricultural Industry
After the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the agricultural industry witnessed a crisis coming in. The huge demand for basic food grains laid a lot of stress on the producers, i.e., the farmers. To combat that, large scale smart farming solutions were deployed. ?
IoT smart farming solutions are a system designed for automating the irrigation system and monitoring the agricultural field with the aid of sensors (light, humidity, temperature, soil moisture, crop health, etc.). Farmers can keep an eye on the state of their fields from anywhere.
Conclusion
During the COVID-19 shutdown, remote working and remote engagement were made possible thanks to technology. Technology will once more assist firms in making a turn as the economy slowly recovers. Businesses are increasingly adopting technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), big data, cloud computing, etc., all falling within the realm of IoT.
IoT applications can assist sectors like healthcare, retail, hospitality, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and more, to resume operations seamlessly while adhering to the norms of the post-Covid era.