Nov_Dec_AMP_Digital

A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 5 2 FEATURE 8 T he Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is extremely broad in definition. It exists in virtually all areas of in- dustry, covering all sectors of business. It is proving to be a huge benefit to organizations that can seize the data that provides them with an opportunity to benefit from this information. Many organizations now have fast access to information, helping them to make quick decisions based on data derived from minute levels. With so much hype around big data and IIoT, what does this mean for the heat treating industry? The heat treating industry has been capturing pro- cess-related data ever since paper recorders were intro- duced. In addition to process data, many other data points from the shop floor are available to provide business intel- ligence. What drives data capture requests in heat treating can be broken out into two areas—process data and oper- ational data. Requests for proof of process are common when manufacturing parts or providing a heat treating ser- vice to a customer. Several process parameters are captured during heat treating, which are critical to the metallurgical results of the part. Time, temperature, and atmosphere are the most common. Operational reporting can come from an ERP/shop management system or a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. This reporting can be used to address operational benefits by understanding the over- all status of the manufacturing floor along with information about customers and parts. Large amounts of process and operational data can be gathered, but in the end, this data is commonly underutilized by the industry. INDUSTRIAL DATA SOURCES IIoT data comes from many sources and is tradition- ally stored in silos, meaning it tends to be segregated and not shared between different areas of an organization. The heat treating industry is no different when it comes to the challenges of bringing data together to form a holistic view of the operation. Control systems, shop floor management, and SCADA systems are not usually integrated with one an- INDUSTRIAL INTERNET OF THINGS ENTERS HEAT TREAT WORLD The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has tremendous potential in many areas of industry, and the opportunities in heat treating cannot be overlooked. James P. Oakes* Super Systems Inc., Cincinnati *Member of ASM International To fully realize the benefits of IIoT, it is important to have a system that not only captures data efficiently, but also provides the information in an easily digestible format.