IIoT-enabled monitoring systems can collect and leverage data generated by legacy equipment. Implementing these systems has never been easier.
Allied Electronics has sponsored this post.
Written by: Luke Karnas, Director of Global Business Development – IIoT, Banner Engineering
For decades, factory managers have used some of the data available from their equipment to monitor performance, detect problems, determine optimal maintenance intervals and minimize unplanned production interruptions. The process for leveraging that data has traditionally involved manually gathering data from sensors, tabulating or graphing it to reveal trends, and comparing these trends to the original equipment specifications. Although this process can provide actionable information, it is labor-intensive, tedious and error prone. Thankfully, alternative solutions to manual data collection and analysis are now abundant. They include numerous plug-and-play IIoT products designed to quickly, easily and effectively upgrade legacy equipment and provide valuable new insights into factory operations. To modernize and enhance your factory’s operations using the abundance of accurate data that today’s IIoT tools can provide, simply follow these five steps:
1. Identify actionable data provided by existing equipment.
2. Leverage the actionable data available to you.
3. Add sensors to capture additional actionable data.
4. Convert your data to a single unified communication protocol.
5. Deliver actionable data to applicable factory personnel.

1. Identify Actionable Data Provided by Existing Equipment
One of the first things that factory managers need to do to modernize and streamline factory operations with IIoT tools is to identify the actionable data that’s already available through their existing equipment. Two types of data are available: Equipment data, which indicates the state of a piece of equipment and can reveal characteristics including pressure, temperature, speed, and vibration; and process data, which indicates the operational status of the process that the equipment is driving.
Equipment Data
Equipment data allows factory managers to monitor the condition of equipment, predict its performance and identify appropriate maintenance intervals based on performance data and manufacturers’ recommendations. When relying on manual data collection and analysis, attempts at identifying appropriate maintenance intervals, for instance, typically result in one of two outcomes: the equipment fails before the recommended maintenance date and results in unscheduled downtime, or the equipment is scheduled for downtime even though there’s a chance that it could have continued to operate successfully well beyond its scheduled maintenance date. In both cases, the equipment will be taken out of service for maintenance– in the first case due to an unplanned outage, and in the second case due to a planned but potentially unnecessary outage.
If this same equipment was equipped with IIoT tools including industrial controllers, converters, adapters and filters, the resultant IIoT-enabled monitoring system could be used to accurately predict the need for machine maintenance by trending limiting characteristics including vibration and temperature. This more insightful data would allow factory managers to schedule machine maintenance in a planned and precise manner rather than a forced or roughly predicted manner, minimize production interruptions and achieve significant time, money and manpower savings.
Process Data
Process data allows factory managers to monitor process disruptions, which can result from equipment failures, scheduled downtime or process variables including material supply shortages and equipment malfunctions, such as conveyor jams. This type of data is often indicated by tower lights used to provide local personnel with process status updates. When employed in factories that rely on manual data collection and analysis, process data can indicate that a machine is operating correctly, out of materials or stopped for some other reason. When employed in factories equipped with IIoT tools, process data can be used to trend the downtime of all machines based on tower light status updates, compare machine downtime data and prioritize the maintenance and repair of underperforming machines to increase efficiency.
IIoT Implementation
Early approaches to implementing IIoT-enabled monitoring systems often called for the replacement of all existing sensors, indicator lights, and other control devices. Such approaches were exceedingly expensive and wasteful of perfectly good sensors and devices, and the extensive equipment amendments they promoted introduced significant risk of extended downtime. Newer approaches to implementing IIoT-enabled monitoring systems often involve accessing the data stored inside the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used to control the system or the human-machine interfaces (HMIs) embedded within equipment, which is solidly preferable to earlier approaches. However, these approaches typically require modifying devices that are built into the equipment and, as such, can also introduce additional risk in terms of equipment performance and uptime.
Today, IIoT suppliers including Banner Engineering offer a different, easier-to-install, and less invasive approach to implementing IIoT tools and accessing the actionable data in the factory. This approach taps into the data generated by existing devices by creating an overlay network that, operates in parallel with existing device infrastructure, captures data from virtually any source, seamlessly converts all collected data to a single industry-standard protocol, and distributes the data to provide timely, accurate, and actionable insights into factory equipment and processes. Another benefit of this approach: minimal disruptions when upgrading equipment because the existing control system doesn’t change.

2. Leverage the Actionable Data Available to You
Look at the devices currently gathering data from your machines and consider whether the data is useful or needed. For example, while every sensing point may not be valuable, some certainly are. It’s also important to look beyond sensors. For instance, if your control panels have indicator lights that tell local operators if something is wrong, that is actionable data you can leverage by implementing an IIoT-enabled monitoring system capable of capturing and analyzing the machine data, trending how often a specific condition presents itself and making that data accessible to personnel with the power to improve performance.
Unlocking the data generated by your existing equipment and devices is often as simple as adding splitter connections designed to monitor transmitted signals without any interference or interruption. Many sensors are already equipped with M12 connectors compatible with splitter connections and, if not, it’s quick, easy, and economical to add a field wireable one.
3. Add Sensors to Capture Additional Actionable Data
The execution of steps one and two may reveal points you’d like to monitor that don’t currently have sensors installed. For instance, you might decide that monitoring the vibration and temperature characteristics of an electric motor could give you better, more accurate insights into predictive maintenance scheduling. And if you’re using an overlay network approach to IIoT implementation rather than an approach designed to access the data stored inside of the PLCs and HMIs already embedded within your equipment, you could do so by simply adding a temperature sensor to the electric motor and connecting it to the overlay network rather than by integrating new I/O points into your PLC.
4. Convert Your Data to a Single Unified Communication Protocol
Much of the equipment in a factory has its own unique set of communication protocols, which makes it difficult to comprehensively monitor and analyze existing equipment. This scenario is another instance in which the overlay network approach to IIoT implementation really shines, as enabling hardware solutions can unify these various signals in a single communication protocol like IO-Link or Modbus to provide users with access to actionable data generated by a combination of legacy equipment and new monitoring equipment. For example, some in-line signal converters require little to no configuration, are quick and easy to install using M12 connectors on either end, and seamlessly convert signals like 0–10 VDC analog to a serial protocol.
Once you identify the various signal types present in your factory and install corresponding converters to capture, unify, and transmit the signals as a common serial protocol, you can create your overlay network by connecting the various signal sources together via cable networks equipped with tees and M12 connectors. At that point, all of your factory data can be fed to an industrial controller capable of transmitting the data to locations optimized for data consumption and analysis, such as cloud dashboards, SCADA systems, or HMIs.

5. Deliver Actionable Data to Applicable Factory Personnel
Once your new IIoT-enabled monitoring system is up and running, providing you with comprehensive access to the full suite of actionable data generated by your newly modernized factory, you can use that information to implement continual process and efficiency improvements. Examples include:
· Using sensor data to monitor raw material levels and proactively schedule refills.
· Remotely monitoring tank levels.
Getting Started
Transforming a traditional factory into a smart factory was once a complex and risky process, but the introduction of overlay network approaches to IIoT implementation has made the process significantly easier and less expensive. Flexible, brand agnostic overlay network solutions are quick and easy to implement at any point in the data chain and are ideal for modernizing legacy equipment, integrating new equipment, and leveraging that comprehensive collection of data to unlock your factory’s true potential.
Luke Karnas is Director of Global Business Development – IIoT for Banner Engineering
Banner Engineering products and solutions are made to exceed industry standards and are backed by more than 50 years of proven performance. They are available through Allied Electronics & Automation, part of RS Group, whose technical support team can help to identify and deploy the products needed for factory modernization.