igus’s membership of the Berlin expert network “IoT Use Case” helps it take advantage of the multi-trillion dollar IoT market

The Internet of Things has a growth potential of several trillion dollars – consultancy McKinsey estimates it could realise $5.5tr to $12.6tr in value globally by 2030. However, many industrial companies still have difficulties in digitizing their processes. As a new member of the 80-member Berlin expert network “IoT Use Case”, igus can explain to customers how the entry point works.

A packaging system failure in a bread factory can be due to a simple component failure resulting in prolonged downtime and high repair costs. But just a small investment in digitization and industrial networking could have avoided the breakdown, and the system could have warned the operator of the defect via IoT, or Internet of Things, technology. Here “Smart Condition Monitoring” can be translated as intelligent condition monitoring. The technology, despite its economic efficiency, is still implemented by only a few companies in the UK and Europe, supported by a survey by US market research company International Data Corporation (IDC).

The survey shows that only 29% of the 250 companies surveyed with more than 100 employees are working on IoT projects. “In order to accelerate the pace of digitization, we joined the Berlin expert network IoT Use Case in October 2022,” explains Justin Leonard, e-chain Director at igus UK. “Through our educational work showing best practice examples, our exchange of knowhow and the generation of synergies that benefit companies, we want to make it easier for companies to access the Internet of Things and strengthen their future competitiveness.”

Companies should make
correct digitization demands early on
More than 80 industrial partners from more than 15 countries have now joined
this community of technology and industry experts, including Microsoft, Siemens
and Schaeffler. “Only if we share best practices from the projects and
talk specifically about the added value of IoT can we successfully explain IoT
– without PowerPoint slides!”, says IoT Use Cases founder Madeleine
Mickeleit. The IoT experts will share knowledge about the Internet of Things
and discuss how to increase the quality, security and dissemination of IoT
technology. Interested companies can read over 350 use cases and projects from
the network, follow expert podcasts, and easily exchange ideas with like-minded
companies.

The IoT holds enormous economic
potential. According to consultancy McKinsey in 2021, the value potential of IoT in factories alone will
increase to $3.3 trillion by 2030. “So it is really important that
companies understand digitisation better now and set the right course for it,
to not fall behind in international competition,” Leonard says.

igus will enrich network
with smart plastics expertise

The term smart plastics covers
sensor systems that monitor the condition of energy chains and cables. This
allows technicians to plan maintenance operations in a targeted manner and
react to potential impending defects at an early stage. Among the users, some
of which can be found as case studies on the Berlin network’s website, is GHD
Georg Hartmann Maschinenbau. The company has a bread packaging machine with the
i.Sense CF. Q sensor supplied by igus. The sensor system monitors the energy
and data lines, which move at high speed inside the energy chains, in real
time. “Thanks to the advanced technology of i.Sense CF.Q, impending cable
breaks are detected before they occur,” says Leonard.

This is a technology that visitors to automation trade show SPS in Nuremberg can see for themselves. From 8 to 11 November, igus will exhibit three smart plastics products at SPS, including the i.Sense TR.B, an intelligent condition monitoring system for 3D energy chains on industrial robots, the low-cost lifetime sensor i.Sense EC.W and the latest i.Sense CF.D prototypes for monitoring highly stressed data lines. A community meeting of IoT Use Case will also take place at the event