Smart Sensors Bringing About a Paradigm Shift in Manufacturing

Global smart sensors industry is estimated to be valued at USD 104.5 billion by 2027. Between 2022 and 2027, the market is also expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.9 percent. There are multiple factors driving the growth of the smart sensors market including its soaring demand in IoT based services, and the accelerating use of wireless technologies. That said, the increasing demand from the manufacturing industry can be attributed as one of the primary growth factors behind the smart sensor market. The high installation and maintenance costs are seen as the biggest caveats of smart sensors and the implementation cost even includes incorporating them with a network or signal processing intelligence. Still, the impact smart sensors can have on revolutionizing the manufacturing industry is undeniable. Now, let’s analyze some of the most innovative smart sensors and its operations.

Temperature Sensors

As the name suggests, these sensors measure the heat in order to identify the variations in temperature. With the introduction of IoT, people are now starting to explore more about how these can be used. In the manufacturing industry, temperature sensors should be an essential as there are many machines that shouldn’t be allowed to overheat. Smart temperature sensors can not only help manufacturers to monitor the temperature of machines but they can even automate heating and ventilation. This will help them to maintain the ideal temperature for the machine to operate which greatly diminishes the chances of them failing and causing production halt or delays.

Photoelectric Sensors

These sensors help machine designers to not only measure but also monitor as well as control different machine functions. Using photoelectric sensors will help them to do these actions much more quickly and precisely. These sensors are an optical device that detects both visible and invisible light beams. By becoming the eye of the machine, these sensors can control its functions through specific inputs. Because of this feature, photoelectric sensors are a great tool to optimize automation needs which can greatly improve the efficiency of manufacturing operations. One of the biggest perks of these sensors is that they are available in different sensing modes, sizes and configurations. This in turn helps manufacturers to choose photoelectric sensors that best suit their needs.

Pressure Sensors

Pressure sensors are commonly used when it comes to monitoring different pipe lines. If they detect a leak or other irregularities, they will alert a centralized computing system. Apart from manufacturing, these sensors can work well in water and heating systems as well. Owing to its capability to sense and measure pressure, they can be used for specialized maintenance strategies. These sensors collect real-time data regarding the equipment conditions.

Then using this information they are even able to predict failure patterns which can help the manufacturers to ensure proper maintenance of their machines and reduce breakdowns as well as repairing expenses.

Smart sensors enable manufacturers to optimize their operations and increase their efficiency in a multitude of ways. Let’s analyze some of the applications of smart sensors in a manufacturing facility.

Data-centric Monitoring and Controlling

Smart sensors generate a lot of data by connecting devices and systems which in turn helps much more streamlined communication to happen between machines. This will help improve the connectivity throughout the entire manufacturing facility and allow manufacturers to monitor equipment and system performance, collect and analyze data, and using this, identify the areas they can improve on. By creating the data more transparent, manufacturers will also be able to make better data-driven decision to increase the efficiency of their facility. Experts believe that, in the future, sensors can even be able to seamlessly integrate physical and cyber technologies to improve manufacturing operations even more.

Canadian engineering solutions company BP Automation is a leader in manufacturing custom machines and they build sensor technology as well. The sensor technology development services offered by the company are not only affordable but they can also be easily installed and integrated. All the sensing products offered by the company are tailored to their clients quality control needs. Having customized sensing technology can also help the manufacturer to incorporate precision measuring devices as well as machines to their already existing quality control and monitoring process.

Predictive Maintenance of Equipment

With the help of smart sensors, manufacturers can cut down their maintenance expenses which will help them remain more competitive in the industry. Minimizing the requirement of maintenance can not only save cost but it can even help to reduce instances when the facility has to stop running because of machines breaking down. This in turn can help them to operate longer without any hindrances. These sensors can also help to decrease the Replacement Asset Value or RAV. This is achieved by reducing unnecessary scheduled maintenance as well as the cost of part replacements. Smart sensors can even help manufacturers to transition from scheduled maintenance to predictive maintenance.

German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies has a wide array of XENSIV sensors. These can be used to monitor both the individual components of production machinery as well as an entire smart building ecosystem. They can monitor a myriad of aspects including vibration and airflow in motors. By combining them with certain other technologies, these sensors even enable the data collected by them to be analyzed. This processed data can in turn be used for predictive maintenance.

Improving Supply Chain and Tracking Assets

With assistance from GPS, smart sensors are able to track things including vehicle, inventory or even assets. For a manufacturer, this can be a great tool which helps them see where their shipment is at, what are the whereabouts of their fleet trucks and more. With smart sensors, manufacturers can also predict as well as confirm the arrival of assets and their departure from the warehouse. A paper published by management consulting company Deloitte talks more about how smart sensors can help improve supply chain innovation. In the paper, the authors are even talking about how smart sensors can be used in different stages of supply chain. This includes using real-time inventory tracking from the sensors to improve supply planning, ensuring better transparency of raw material using the data revealed by smart sensors, and improving order management to name a few.

For some time now, smart sensor technology has been in the spotlight owing to the immense potential it has to offer. Not just in manufacturing but a plethora of other verticals can also be drastically improved with further advancements in smart sensor technology. In the manufacturing arena, smart sensors can not only help to improve the efficiency of operations but it can even help factories to be more capable of understanding and dealing with anomalies by processing the data collected through the sensors, thus helping them operate much more optimally.