An interview by Plastic Science with CEO Soonho Lee

On key drivers behind the industrial IoT and “Smart Factory”

IoT represents an instance of the more general class of cyber physical system (CPS). In CPS, all physical objects (devices, vehicles, buildings, machines and other physical items) embedded with microprocessor, software, sensors and network connectivity are uniquely identifiable and interoperable with the existing Internet infrastructure. Industrial IoT-connected equipment in “smart factory” can operate in two parallel worlds simultaneously: the physical system that performs its intended tasks and functions and that interacts with machine operators and users, and a digital replica – a “digital twin” – of the same piece of equipment that resides within the Internet infrastructure.

The digital twin knows the exact configuration of a production equipment, its current operating and surrounding conditions, its maintenance history and other information needed to operate and maintain it. The digital twin “experiences” the physical product continually in real time if necessary and throughout its lifecycle. Utilizing the digital twin, manufacturers know much more about their operation and their products than ever before. They now know how well their manufacturing process and products perform, can fix faults more quickly, can do a better job in operating their entire manufacturing process (as well as extend it to the entire supply chain if necessary), and can predict when maintenance needs to be performed and why.

On Thing + and Its Key Benefits

When deciding to choose an IoT system that would enable manufacturers to achieve its intended goals, certain key considerations must be taken into account: reliability, scalability, immediate on-demand availability, and extendibility. In all 4 criteria, Thing+ stands out as it is a cloud-based platform and allows all of customers to tap into our secure data systems, high performing open source databases and unlimited computing power with reduced risk, lower costs and faster time, compared to on-premise in-house packaged solutions.

Our cloud-based IoT platform allows our clients and their IT personnel to avoid heavy lifting required to build their own IoT solutions.There are so many decisions and purchases: networking devices, storage systems, database engines, and data centers. And these are only the first set of software considerations! You have to build the software and make sure that it works in multiple languages and on multiple devices, among other challenges. And then finally, there are the technological issues that need to be addressed such as authentication, security and availability.

Thing+ can make everything much less complex and far less expensive. Further, with our embedded software and open API, our Thing+ platform can be extended in a plug and play to virtually all types of sensors, devices and machines. Our portal (http://thingplus.net) features a dashboard built on widgets, customizable to each client’s specific needs and requirements. Our customers can create their own dashboard with their own set of asset health and performanceparameters, patterns and other visual displays. They can also set their own rules, thereby automatically triggering certain control and preventive actions onto physical assets via actuators.