Leveraging innovative edge solutions, manufacturers are automating operations and data collection to move processing and analytics closer to the origin of the data. Advancements in smart manufacturing enable systems to make real-time decisions to optimise efficiency.
Edge intelligence helps manufacturers to handle large amounts of data that are generated by sensors and communicated to actionable data. This data improves processing time and improves safety.
This process makes it possible for the sensors to allow real-time actions in situations where instantaneous feedback can impact production cost and safety.
Most manufacturers use either private or public cloud where the voluminous data that is generated is sent and retrieved from the cloud. However, this process is time consuming, expensive and at times, completely unviable for many companies. To address these challenges, edge or fog computing is emerging as a promising technology that bridges the gap between the cloud and connected equipment in the factory. However, both cloud (where data is at a centralized location) and edge computing (where data is located at the edge of a connected device) are required in a smart factory to leverage the data effectively as they are complementing technologies.
In a typical smart factory, data that is generated in the manufacturing ecosystem may be distributed between the edge and the cloud as required to save time and facilitate faster decision making. The market positioning of the manufacturers will depend on how effectively they combine and adopt both cloud and edge computing technologies in the smart factory setup.