Stephen and Conall from the Allsop team recently attended the Internet of Things Alliance event. The event was hosted by Connected NI and Belfast Met at their Titanic Quarter campus.
The event was a chance for innovative IT and software companies across Northern Ireland to come together to hear about the uses of the Internet of Things (IoT) both in Northern Ireland and further afield. It was also an opportunity for discussing and exploring the possibilities for solutions that can utilise IoT.
The event was kicked off with a talk from Brian Douglas from Belfast Met. He highlighted the emerging trends in the IoT sector. As well as sharing his experiences from the recent IoT World Conference that he attended in Dublin. He touched on the sectors he felt could most benefit from the Internet of Things recognising amongst others manufacturing, agriculture and transportation as being key sectors that could gain from leveraging this technology.
Following this, Conor Charnley from Ashdale Engineering discussed the emergence of smart factories. Conor defined the smart factory as ‘a current and future vision allowing every machine to communicate with all the machines and devices across the plant and further afield. This enables the factory to be controlled, monitored and connected to virtually anything, anywhere in the world.’
His discussion of the smart factory explained how using IoT sensors within the factory allowed for real-time monitoring of the production line and real-time alarms for issues, which inform key personnel of the problem, or potential problem. This allows staff to quickly take corrective action to minimise the disruption to production. Sensors can monitor motors in equipment, temperatures, air quality and many other factors that could indicate problems within machinery or the factory. Just some of the benefits recognised of implementing IoT into manufacturing were extended equipment life, higher productivity and efficiency and a switch to predictive maintenance, which thus avoids the high costs of equipment downtime.
The event was thoroughly enjoyed by those who attended from Allsop and has further reinforced the rising importance of the Internet of Things and the endless possibilities for continuing to use this technology in our solutions. Here at Allsop, we have been developing IoT solutions across different industries including those mentioned above: manufacturing, agriculture and transportation. We plan to continue to encourage our customers to leverage the efficiencies that a solution utilising the Internet of Things can bring.