When manufacturers seek innovative ways to maintain efficiency and meet customer needs, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) provides an effective solution to address several challenges during the COVID-19 period. The Industrial Internet of Things helps manufacturers deal with the unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 through the following three ways.

Health and Safety Tracking and Monitoring

The Industrial Internet of Things can be used to help manufacturers ensure that employees keep a safe distance. Wearable trackers can track employees in real time and record all contacts during shifts. This is a solution that helps contact tracking. The wearable sensor directly informs the user when the user breaks the social distance limit, and sends a beacon to notify the tracking system.

Industrial IoT tools can provide companies with information to help stop the spread of viruses. Temperature monitoring equipment can detect employees with a low-grade fever-this is the most common sign of the virus. Industrial IoT technology can also capture worker and time data when processing company assets and materials, so any cross-infection between workers can be immediately flagged.

Tracking solutions can also identify affected items by tracking the interactions of workers diagnosed with COVID-19, and allow companies to manage the use of common assets (such as individual tools and containers) to prevent workers from contacting items recently used by others .

In addition, in order to solve hygiene issues, industrial IoT tracking applications can be applied to cleaners to help detect "dark areas" or areas that still need to be disinfected after a service cycle. The analytics provided by industrial IoT devices can detect areas that are often non-compliant, allowing companies to better understand where they should focus their efforts to continue to improve health and safety regulations.

Production Problem

Due to various factors, such as compliance with social distancing compliance standards, or the outbreak of new crown pneumonia among employees, fewer workers are working on the factory floor at the same time.

By using the Industrial Internet of Things, production team members can remotely monitor equipment and processes, set thresholds and alarms, and provide guidance to operators, all of which used to be handled by field workers. In addition, by using sensors on the production line, suppliers can manage their inventory more safely by only responding to calls, thereby eliminating excessive time spent on parts supply.

Using these tools, you can view data analysis and visualization anytime, anywhere. Cloud-based analysis makes it possible to monitor the process remotely, ensuring that managers and team leaders can quickly identify problems and intervene when necessary to keep the work going smoothly.

Control Costs and Improve Efficiency

Like many other companies, most manufacturers are facing reduced revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increased pressure to monitor and control costs. The Industrial Internet of Things can help in many ways. Through intelligent material flow management, operational efficiency can be improved, inefficient paper processes can be eliminated, replaced by processes that support the Industrial Internet of Things, and production line downtime can be reduced.

By providing real-time tracking solutions for people, parts, and processes, industrial IoT technology will become an important means for manufacturers to control costs, improve efficiency, maintain productivity, and support the health and safety of employees and customers during and after the global pandemic.