Smart, connected products, emerging
across all manufacturing sectors, enable a
new set of capabilities that can be grouped
into four categories: monitor, control, op-
timize, and automate. The ability to moni-
tor—via sensors and other data sources—
exposes the product’s condition, external
environment, and operation. In effect,
smart, connected products now have a
digital voice and can exchange data with
the manufacturer throughout the longest
period of its lifecycle—the “use phase.”
This wealth of new data, which serves as
the foundation for all other product capa-
bilities, will bring about a new standard for
managing the product and service lifecycle
and the customer relationship. Just think
about how valuable it would be for manu-
facturers to stay connected to the products
they develop and service every day. Instead
of asking customers about product perfor-
mance, manufacturers would gather design
and quality insight from the product directly.
Manufacturers could provide more ef-
ficient service by knowing something was
about to break instead of waiting for cus-
tomers to tell them it’s broken. Imagine the
business growth manufacturers could drive
if they knew how their product was being
used, and were then able to deliver relevant
and timely value-added services through-
out the life of the product. On the furthest
extreme, manufacturers might even provide
their products entirely as a service, given the
visibility and predictability provided by a
smart, connected product.
The path to this value is through the aggregation and analysis of the following
types of data:
•;External;Data: Third-party data from
customers, partners, suppliers; the broader
ecosystem, such as weather, commodity and
energy prices; geomapping; and from news
and social media sources, all of which informs
product capabilities and analysis;
•;Enterprise;Data: Enterprise systems such as
ERP, CRM, and PLM that provide data about
customer preferences, sales and service history,
and product details like engineering designs,
warranty allowances, spare parts and inventory,
suppliers, and costs;
•;Smart,;Connected;Product;Data: Data from
product sensors, which provides insights
about the product’s condition such as location,
temperature, and component or part failure,
and data from the product’s operation,
including utilization, usage time and rate, and
log files;
Smart, connected products change the
Big Data equation for manufacturers.
With product usage, condition, and performance data streaming from smart, connected products, data analysis—including
enterprise and external data—can access
a 360-degree view of the product and provide a richer perspective on customer
IInfOrMa TIOn TechnOlOgy IS revOlu TIOnIzIng prODuc TS, and, in turn, revolutionizing how manufacturers use IT. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that com- bine hardware, sensors, microprocessors, software, and various forms of connectiv- ity. These “smart, connected products” and the data they generate have unleashed a
new era of innovation and opportunity.1
ManufacturIng
leadershIp journal
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Steve Dertien is Senior Vice President, Office of the CTO, at PTC.
He is responsible for
driving the company’s
technology strategy for
PTC’s Enterprise Products and maintaining
vision alignment
with PTC’s customers.
Previously, he served
as aTechnical Vice
President with the PTC
Enterprise Deployment Center. PTC is a
member of the Manufacturing Leadership
Council.
www.Manufacturingleadershipcommunity.com
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