In order to achieve smart manufacturing centered on rich data that goes beyond existing factory automation, interconnection between production devices and efficient management and utilization of the data generated based on this are analyzed as essential.

According to the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Promotion Team, 19,799 smart factories have been distributed by 2020, exceeding the target of 17,800 on a cumulative basis, and 7,139 smart factories were distributed in 2020 alone, exceeding the target of 5,600.

In addition, it was found that smart factories have had positive effects, such as increasing productivity by 28.5%, reducing the defect rate by 42.5%, reducing costs by 15.5%, and reducing industrial accidents by 16.2%.

This spread of smart factories is accelerating due to COVID-19, and it is analyzed that this is because the spread of smart manufacturing is absolutely essential for competitiveness in the manufacturing industry.

■ Single system integration through IIoT, the core of smart manufacturing

In particular, integration of processes into a single system through the Industrial Internet of Things is evaluated as a core technology of smart manufacturing.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) refers to an Internet environment in which various sensors and peripheral devices installed in devices used in various industries such as manufacturing, transportation, energy, and plants are connected to a network to communicate with each other and process data.

The difference between smart manufacturing and existing factory automation is that existing factory automation is simply repeated operation with initially set values based on a set concept, whereas smart manufacturing corrects errors through the production and analysis of abundant data through interconnection and analyzes and applies verification data.

In a typical automated factory, data produced by computers or PLCs built into each piece of equipment is directly extracted by people, or data is manually entered by workers, so there is a possibility of accidents due to data errors.

On the other hand, in smart manufacturing where devices are interconnected, data can be input/output through the controller and Ethernet via an industrial network, and the collected data can be stored through the cloud.

The introduction of this interconnected IIoT is a core technology of the 4th industrial revolution, which can realize various technologies such as digital twins.

■ IIoT Market, Continued Growth Outlook

According to Technavio's 2020 report, the global industrial IoT market is expected to grow from USD 133.58 billion in 2020 to USD 554.86 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 32.95%.

Also, according to a 2020 report by MarketsandMarkets, the global industrial IoT market is expected to reach $76.7 billion by 2021.It is expected to increase at an average annual growth rate of 6.7%, reaching $106.1 billion in 2026.

Additionally, according to IEIE, it is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 29% until 2025.

Although there are differences in market size across each report, it is clear that the IIoT market will continue to grow.

According to MarketsandMarkets, the networking technology market is expected to grow from USD 16.22 billion in 2021 to USD 20.83 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 5.1%.

By connection type, wired is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.0% from USD 9.59 billion in 2021 to USD 12.26 billion in 2026, while wireless is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.3% from USD 6.64 billion in 2021 to USD 8.57 billion in 2026.

In particular, the manufacturing industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% from $27.9 billion in 2021 to $39.7 billion in 2026.

■ Securing technology to manage exponentially increasing data is essential

Smart factory systems interconnected with IIoT can analyze and accumulate experience on the status, quality, and energy usage of equipment based on real-time data, and based on this, can support failure prediction, proactive quality management, energy optimization, and real-time linkage with external systems.

This is the biggest difference between automated factories and smart manufacturing, which enables the assetization of industrial data.

Interconnection of industrial resources and data analysis are key to manufacturing intelligence and digital transformation, differentiating them from traditional systems.

In particular, as data generation increases exponentially during this process, appropriate data management is also becoming essential.
> Accordingly, the industry is adopting the cloud to store and analyze the rapidly increasing amount of industrial data, and industry-specific cloud platforms are expanding the market based on their advantages of speed, agility, infrastructure management, and cost reduction.

Microsoft, Amazon, and others have also presented future factory automation systems that will utilize AI and mixed reality through industry-specific clouds to enable not only collaboration between people, but also closer collaboration between people and machines in the field.

In particular, recently, technologies have emerged that allow you to control all devices through cloud services.

The industry unanimously agrees that research and development should be actively conducted on technologies for analysis and utilization through interconnection and data accumulation, which are key technologies that will determine future innovation in the manufacturing industry.

※ Meanwhile, e4ds news will host the ' 2022 IIoT Innovation Day ' on the topic of ' Building an Industrial Communication Network for Digital Twin ' simultaneously online and offline at COEX Hall D and e4ds.com on April 8th. At this seminar, Lee Soon-yeol, CEO of I2, will present 'The Importance of Securing Industrial Trustworthiness for Industrial Digital Transformation and Preparation', and B&R, Cordzoo, Rockwell Automation, Ericsson-LG, and others will participate to introduce the latest IIoT technologies. We ask for your active participation. You can register for the seminar at https://www.e4ds.com/seminar_introduce.asp?idx=129 .