How Manufacturing and Lighting Solution Companies Are Benefitting From IoT

Lights today have become more than simple means of lighting up the dark. During their evolution from a simple filament bulb to today’s connected LEDs, lights have become more efficient and intelligent.

Digitalization makes new services possible

Products and services in the field of lighting and building-services technology are taking the form of subscription models. The ongoing process of digitalization is driving the trend. Known as ‘X as a Service’ (XaaS), ‘Light as a Service’ (LaaS), ‘Security as a Service,’ and ‘Safety as a Service,’ this trend offers benefits for both providers and customers. Digitalization is not only driving this development but also giving rise to new business models offered by IoT service providers.

In the future, lighting will be part of the internet of things (IoT) and services. Modern technology based on IoT Applications makes it possible to adapt the light to the needs of individual users. Lighting-system operation can be optimized if employed in combination with sun-protection systems, air-conditioning technology, and user-behavior models.

Given that service providers receive data from many different locations, they can develop algorithms that benefit all customers by helping to control the lighting situation more effectively and thus save energy.

Customers via service agreements can obtain the best lighting for their premises without having to bear high investment costs. They not only profit from the reduced effort required but always have the latest IoT Technology and enjoy accounting benefits.

What Is Smart Lighting?

Simply speaking, smart lighting is a combination of 6 components.

1. LED Luminaries
2. Sensors
3. Drivers to control lighting operations such as DALI
4. Data connectivity modules such as Wi-Fi or 4G/LTE
5. Platform to collect data, moderate data, and onboard sensors enabled devices
6. User facing application

A complete smart lighting system using IoT Platform can intelligently automate and control lighting operations making working environments safer, productive, and efficient.

What Can Smart Lighting do?

Technology without a relevant business use case is not of much use. Availability of a variety of Sensors, Advanced analytics techniques like Edge Computing, and scalable IoT Cloud services are fuelling the rise of unique use cases for smart lighting. IoT devices no longer limit industrial use cases for smart lighting solutions.

Smart lighting can enable the following use cases:

1. Predictive maintenance of your lighting operations with IoT services
2. Create custom schedules for lighting operations to save energy and reduce bills
3. On-demand lighting based on motion sensor and proximity sensor
4. HVAC cleaning and maintenance alerts based on temperature and dust particle measurements
5. Smart lighting pole for measuring the presence of atmospheric gases. Digital boards for weather updates, integrated camera feed for security, and calling points for emergencies.

Why Facility Managers Should Upgrade to IoT Enabled Digital Service Solutions

For many years, efficiency and cost savings in maintenance operations have been the guiding lights for Facility Managers around the globe. But they are not enough. Facility Managers are now looking out for IoT solutions that can help them identify areas of improvement and give them operational insights with baseline data. Digitizing critical maintenance processes with the help of IoT solutions is the right step forward.

Lighting operations alone contribute a significant portion of maintenance expenses. But not many facility managers have visibility in area-wise or device/machine-wise electricity consumption. This is where IoT-enabled solutions can help.

Three crucial IoT solutions can help Facility Managers not only create digital services operations but also reduce cost and gain efficiency, which enables higher productivity for the organization.

1. IoT-enabled Smart Lighting solution — Smart lighting solutions allow Facility Managers to switch to IoT lighting, which can control with defined rules without any manual intervention. Facility Managers also stand to gain from detailed reports on area-wise electricity consumption, which gives them real insights that were not available before. Advanced features such as Faulty Light Identification, predicting light failure, can help Facility Managers plan their lighting maintenance operations, thus reducing time on production floors.
2. IoT-enabled smart, metering solutions. Smart metering solutions, when installed at each consumption point, can give Facility Managers real-time insights into important parameters such as quality of current supply, real-time voltage levels, power consumption, etc. When these parameters are associated with machine operational parameters can give real-time correlation between previously unknown factors. Automated operations such as isolators or MCB trips can save precious equipment from getting damaged. Detailed graphs and reports provide real insights into daily activities, allowing them to take necessary actions before things go wrong.
3. IoT-enabled smart air monitoring solution — Modern HVAC systems are the lifeline of today’s buildings. However, these systems are under constant pressure and need constant maintenance in the form of leak checks, duct cleanliness, and the ability to maintain the right temperature and humidity levels. IoT-enabled ambient atmosphere monitoring systems can help Facility Managers get real-time visibility into their HVAC operations and their cleanliness status. High dust particles reading than normal can indicate a need to clean the ducts. Abnormal temperature or humidity levels can indicate window glazing going bad or condensation forming in unexpected places.

Conclusion

IoT solution providers are making a real-time impact on maintenance operations. It is the right time to drive your processes into Maintenance 4.0, where software, sensors, and artificial intelligence converge to create impactful opportunities for Facility Managers to lead from the front in providing safer, productive, and efficient working environments.