Fernando Montero, SVP of BGH Tech Partner.

Over the past few years, remote access and connectivity have become a standard in daily operations in manufacturing plants. In 2022, economic demands and an increasingly competitive landscape will push manufacturing leaders to adopt Industry 4.0 strategies that address workplace safety, worker productivity, and close communication gaps.

“Industry 4.0 opens new horizons for manufacturers by accelerating innovation and time to market with data-driven insights,” said Fernando Montero, SVP of BGH Tech Partner. “Moreover, this model allows us to anticipate customer behavior and customize products according to their changing preferences.”

In terms of technologies, one of the biggest bets of 2022 will be the increased adoption of digital twins, the real-time virtual representation of a product, platform or ecosystem that can be used to model, visualize, predict and provide feedback on properties and performance. This technology offers a comprehensive perspective of the project at any time during the entire life cycle of a product and allows collaboration between different departments.

“Industrial IoT (IIoT) will continue to be deployed and will allow workshops and manufacturing processes to be further integrated with smart sensors and adapters, to consolidate real-time data from all stages of production,” Montero continued. "This advancement will be driven especially by the need to implement predictive maintenance techniques on industrial equipment, to monitor its condition and avoid unscheduled downtime. According to estimates, when repairs and maintenance are planned, manufacturing companies can achieve savings of up to 12%."

In any case, experts warn that the key will be to effectively use the large volumes of data collected by smart sensors and IIoT.

In this regard, data analytics solutions in the Cloud will be essential. “As there are more and more machines and devices connected within the framework of the Industrial Internet of Things model, organizations must become aware of the associated cybersecurity risks, such as data theft, installation of ransomware and others.” Montero closed.