The Role of IoT in Achieving Sustainable Manufacturing Practices

Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer, Process Automation, ABB

  • No Image

Rajesh Ramachandran, Global Chief Digital Officer, Process Automation, ABB  in an exclusive interview with CIOTechOutlook, shares his views on how IoT applications help manufacturers achieve sustainability, the role of emission monitoring systems in assisting manufacturers, how manufacturers overcome integration challenges for sustainable practices and more. He is a seasoned techno-business leader with over decades of proven track record in Digital, Software, Business and more.

IoT enables real-time monitoring of manufacturing processes, how can IoT applications help manufacturers achieve sustainability by reducing resource wastage?

The Industry 4.0 revolution is about connected operations, assets, processes, and even connected workers. The connectivity happens by two ways. One is the industrial context of the IoT, where we can connect to any asset or even have smart sensors as part of the processes. You could connect the workers in terms of their capabilities, including virtual reality and IoT wearables. In real-time, we can observe what's happening and provide insights. When we bring data within or across the plant, we get it to the cloud and can see the information beyond just the silos of the data, as ultimately, the value of data is when we contextualize the data and bring insights.

For example, an operator controlling a set point on an oil platform, someone adjusting the speed of a paper machine, asset integrity or reliability specialist focused on increasing the lifespan of critical equipment, or a process specialist working to improve the quality of a specific batch of material that is being produced.

Ultimately, CXOs will focus on driving operational excellence for efficiency, sustainability, and reliability. All of this depends on the quality of real-time data used for monitoring, predictions, and optimizations.

Advanced IoT sensors allow real-time tracking of emissions during production processes. What role do IoT-based emission monitoring systems play in helping manufacturers comply with environmental regulations?

We must look at how we continuously measure emissions in a typical environment, such as a plant or even utilities where we see emissions or in manufacturing plants. It could be mining metals or oil and gas chemicals. There are processes with certain levels of industrial gases. Hence, greenhouse gas emissions must be continuously monitored, which is termed a continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS). 

The data, which is available within the plant systems, needs to be analyzed. The IoT systems are nothing, but analyzers connected to the core physical processes. They measure all these different parameters and the industrial gas emissions' emission levels. It could be not only the CO2 but sulphur, ammonia, and methane. They are tracked on a millisecond level, and this data needs to be analyzed. Hence, we need an IoT platform and cloud to bring this in. This helps us understand that we produce the throughput within the defined emission levels.

Besides, it's also important as a regulatory compliance today for many industries we must report, called Quality Assurance Level 3, QAL3 reporting of the emissions. One of the most significant values that we see and moreand moreof the IoT technology is how we really look at the emissions coming out from the critical processes and assets are continuously monitored. Before having IoT, the analyzers would capture the information for a few minutes, whereas today, we can bring all the data and stream it up to the cloud using the IoT. With the cloud, we can provide significant value to the inside of the data.

The integration of IoT systems with legacy manufacturing setups can be complex but crucial for progress. How can manufacturers overcome integration challenges to leverage IoT for sustainable practices?

The integration challenges can be addressed in three different parts. Initially, we need to have specific critical sensors attached to the machines in the right places by the OEMs, which is very important. Otherwise, we will not be able to get accurate information from that. For instance, it is crucial to put a smart sensor on top of a motor body that will be able to get the RMS value of the motor. It needs to bring temperature, pressure, and flow. These sensors are critical in the process anyway and can't be ignored. Even if we have legacy machines or an aging, outdated plant, enabling IoT remains crucial. Installing specific critical sensors as needed to facilitate this transition effectively is essential. 

The second aspect is indirect measurement; it means that there is no need to put a physical sensor onto a motor, but rather, you are able to get the performance of the motor, various parameters that we are getting from the drive system, which is the electronic drive and controlling the motor. From this, you can determine, for example, that the heat sink temperature and internal coil temperature are rising. These parameters can be derived from the drive system, meaning there is no need to install numerous sensors on the end asset, and this approach is called indirect sensorization.

The third aspect is a soft sensor, which is purely a database. There is no need to install a physical sensor. However, when we get this data, we could create it based on the cluster and patterns of data that could make it so it will continuously monitor and see if there are any anomalies or threshold violations it will trigger. For the legacy assets, manufacturers and plants that are old, we need to utilize the combination of hybrid sensorization, which is direct, indirect and soft sensors. Hence, from these three combinations, we can cover a significant amount of the footprint of how IoT enables productivity, reliability, and sustainability.

IoT technologies can facilitate decentralized production models, how will IoT-driven decentralized manufacturing impact global sustainability efforts in the future?

Global sustainability is one of the key aspects to consider, and it is crucial to address. We take the value chain slightly more prominent, not just within the manufacturing plant but also from the scope, as that can cover for the scope one loss. However, sustainability encompasses not only scope one and scope two but also scope three, which means that we need to also look at the entire supply chain, starting from the vendors and suppliers that we are going to bring raw materials to how what we produce is going to go and being used. This entire value chain is called a sustainability lifecycle chain and needs to be monitored and optimized. 

Nowadays, when organizations announce their financial numbers equally, they need to mention how they are progressing regarding sustainability. Sustainability reporting is not just about scopes one and two but includes scope three. Direct energy consumption and carbon emissions are also important and come under scopes one and the other two. So, for global sustainability, when looking at centralized and decentralized distributed manufacturing, it is essential to have systems in place, both IT systems and IoT-enabled solutions that track the entire supply chain.

🍪 Do you like cookies?

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Read more...