Right now North America and Europe are the main adopters of IIoT in manufacturing. Yet more and more, the trend has picked up steam in Asia, where manufacturers are seeking to leverage the benefits connected devices and the data they generate bring.
Right now North America and
Europe are the main adopters of
IIoT in manufacturing. Yet more and more, the trend has picked up steam in Asia, where manufacturers are seeking to leverage the benefits connected devices and the data they generate bring.
Needless to say, Europe and North America are early adopters of IIoT which has become more mature in those regions. “In Europe, Germany is leading in the Industry 4.0 movement. But by size of market as a whole, the U.S. leads,” said Ryan Martin, Principal Analyst at
ABI Research.
“Europe has always been at the center of technological innovation, and the story is no different in the age of Industry 4.0,” said Keshab Panda, CEO and Managing Director of
L&T Technology Services. “In the U.S., the adoption of IIoT has garnered momentum in the last few decades. IoT spending among manufacturers is largely focused on solutions that support operations across discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, transportation, utilities and asset management.
Asia
Increasingly, Asian manufacturers are adopting IIoT as well, due to its various benefits. Some of the Asian regions that are seeing an uptick in the IIoT trend are as follows.
Japan and Korea
Japan and South Korea are increasingly deploying IIoT due to their predisposition to new technology. “In geographies like South Korea and Japan, the Industrial IoT is being implemented across the entire gamut of industries from utilities and energy management to manufacturing and worker safety, riding on the advancements in new computing and network technologies,” Panda said.
Active promotion of IIoT by the government plays a role as well. “The Korean government has established targets to build 30,000 smart factories around the country by 2025, in line with its Smart Factory Roll-out and Advancement Strategy,” said Christophe Avrain with the Industrial Automation Business at Schneider Electric. “What started out as a government-led policy is to be progressively transformed into a private sector and area-led initiatives over time.”
India
India’s industrial ecosystem has also shown increasing proximity toward IIoT, Panda said. “According to an estimate, IIoT is expected to surpass consumer space in India by 2020 and contribute the majority share of the over business opportunity worth $12 billion arising from Internet of Things,” he said. “Growing corporate investment in connected infrastructure and increasing adoption of cloud and edge computing among Indian manufacturers are expected to drive the demand of IIoT.”
ASEAN
Finally, IIoT benefits are increasingly recognized by
ASEAN manufacturers, as indicated by a recent McKinsey survey of more than 200 business leaders throughout the region. “Almost all of the respondents, 96 percent, believed Industry 4.0 will bring new business models to their industries. Slightly less, 90 percent, said improved performance will be one of the main benefits from these new technologies,” the report said. “Additionally, in manufacturing-based economies like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, respondents were generally optimistic about prospects of Industry 4.0.”
Selena Larson, Cyber Threat
Intelligence Analyst, Dragos
Cybersecurity challenges
While IIoT brings many benefits to manufacturers, it also introduces new risks, especially in the
area of cybersecurity.
“As more industrial entities begin implementing internet-connected devices, it increases the attack surface for a potential cyber event,” said Selena Larson, Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at
Dragos. “We have seen with recent events — like NotPetya and LockerGoga ransomware attacks — that it is possible for a cyberattack to make the leap from the enterprise environment to the operations environment with disastrous results due to interconnectivity,”
According to her, it's important for industrial operators to consider cybersecurity as a critical part of IIoT implementation. “Asset owners and operators should be aware of the risks in connecting IIoT devices, educate end users on best cybersecurity practices including patch management and identifying malicious behavior like phishing, and implement basic cybersecurity hygiene,” she said.