In this article, we will explore together what it takes to shift from a place of lack of knowledge to a data-driven company where every decision is made clearly—thanks to data analysis.

We all know how hard it is to handle topics such as IoT and data analytics AI in our company and know about the benefits of implementing it.

Before deciding on a path, it is always important to say how simple and easy a great decision is being made if you know that the path to it is safe. When you set off with the certainty that you have made the right decision, you have taken a big step into the future.

But let’s take a step back: companies that want to transform themselves face a number of challenges that need to be solved.

Many mid-sized manufacturing companies will find themselves here:

• Production is based on old, proven processes and organized using Excel or analog tools,
• Maintenance is performed on a scheduled basis without a solid foundation,
• Production planning is based on urgency to satisfy customers, not on what would be efficient,
• Complexity of processes leads to reactive actions,
• Long downtimes due to lack of materials or skilled labor delay production.

These challenges only highlight the acute fires within many organizations.
Some companies are already experiencing further consequences that will only exacerbate the situation:

• Investments in new machines are not made, and networking is neglected.
• Machines reach their End-of-life point,
• Costs increase for unknown reasons,
• Optimization potentials are carried out only by feeling and without a factual basis,
• Downtime increases, and production utilization decreases,
• Increased complexity makes it almost impossible to demonstrate flexibility.

There is hardly any time to analyze processes, standardize them, and apply the greatest possible leverage.

The solution is to get out of this situation as quickly as possible, and some are already on their way. The solution is an IoT infrastructure. With such a structure, blind spots in the business can be quickly uncovered, machine data reveals potential for process standardization, and cost reductions can be made where it makes sense.

Many enterprises have already embarked on the journey of implementing an IoT solution. Either an IoT strategy is being developed or the first pilot projects are planned or already in use. Already ~30% of companies have already taken the first steps towards IoT applications and 39.1% of companies are currently developing an IoT strategy or are planning IoT applications in the short and long term (IDG-Studie Internet of Things 2022).

Once the solution has been found, there is no way around transforming data as the basis for business decisions. It makes it possible to identify asymmetries in information and thus overcome the challenges.

If your company does not plan for IoT or waits to see what happens, these market players will lose their competitive edge. Get started as soon as possible and find a low-hanging fruit solution that delivers fast results.

Many companies develop their own IoT solutions or use market solutions. This can lead to a scenario where the in-house solution or solution from the market encounters limitations. These limitations can include a limit on connected devices or sensors, a scalability limit, API interfaces not being supported, static data models, security gaps, or dependence on certain providers. The list goes on and on.

Setting up such a data-based IoT infrastructure requires much more than just using IoT software. Extensive upgrade work (investments in new machines, sensor add-ons, standardized interfaces, and extensive retrofitting work) is required.

Various surveys indicate that 32% of the companies affected cannot manage their existing resources (Teichmann et al., 2022: Studie Internet of things 2022). The development of a data pipeline then goes far beyond the infrastructure.

SECO has developed an IoT solution for precisely this purpose, Clea, the IoT software suite, which is future-proof and designed to meet current and future requirements.

Within months, the company witnessed a remarkable turnaround:

• Production efficiency soared, attributed to reduced downtimes and optimized workflows,
• Energy savings decreased by a substantial margin (~20 %) thanks to strategic consumption management,
• The quality of products improved by up to 36 %, as real-time monitoring allowed for immediate adjustments to manufacturing processes.

The company’s success story became a testament to the potential of IoT in modernizing mid-sized manufacturing. But the journey didn’t end there. Clea’s scalable platform meant that as the company grew, its IoT infrastructure could easily expand to meet new challenges and opportunities.

Clea’s simple integration demonstrates why this system fully meets the requirements now and soon. Once installed, Edgehog, Clea’s device manager software, manages, controls, configures, and updates the fleet. If necessary, devices can be controlled and managed individually, in fleets, or network-wide. The source code is available to everyone (soon in the Google Marketplace) and can be easily applied to the existing fleet.

Astarte is also freely available and open source (click here for the Google Marketplace page). After simple implementation, the fully-fledged IoT middleware orchestrates all data in the IoT network and transfers data between devices and the cloud. Astarte is API-open and can be expanded with third-party applications, such as those from the Clea Store, and in-house developments. While other IoT solutions quickly reach the limits of their features, this is not the case here.

Clients who go one step further use Portal, Clea’s IoT front-end. The user-oriented front-end brings together all data in the IoT network for the user, provides information on the status of the production plant, gives notification of, e.g., maintenance announcements, and creates reports.

The feasibility (proof of concept) of Clea in a customer-specific scenario can be realized within a few days. A fully functioning IoT network is set up in just two weeks, and the first radical improvements are implemented after just 3-6 months, thanks to the collected insight data.

Establishing an IoT-enabled organization is the most important step in the first phase of your company’s IoT strategy. Clea also covers the other phases!

When discussing IoT and its simple structure, further steps must also be included in the planning. The scalability mentioned, not only for devices or sensors but also for data, could pose a problem and lead to limitations. The same applies to flexibility in the event of major adjustments, e.g., conversion of production or expansion. If an IoT network demonstrates flexibility here, it will logically take its revenge at this point at the latest.

With its open cloud agnostic and dynamic approach, Clea users do not have to ask themselves these questions. As Clea works independently, moving servers or implementing additional edge devices from third-party providers, for example, is not challenging.

Discover your own reasons to go with us until you strongly recognize that feels powerfully good and right. Find yourself discovering the other phases with one of our sales experts then click here and feel free to ask the questions that allow you to recognize that’s happening.