Ingenieur Vol 73 ingenieur Jan-March 2018 | Page 77

‟ When talking about the Industrial Internet, we’re talking about what we like to call The Internet of Very Important Things. The consumer Internet is fantastic, but industrial is where the real money is. Changing the face of industry with connectivity - Justin Springham & Linda Xu The Industrial Internet holds the power to revolutionise enterprises across the entire spectrum of industry, boosting productivity, improving manufacturing techniques, and reducing downtime for companies of all sizes. With such a radical transformation already underway across many sectors, it’s important that industrial enterprises stay ahead of the curve to remain competitive in tomorrow’s business world – both improving processes to keep expenses down and enhancing customer offerings. US conglomerate General Electric (GE) began examining the use of software and analytics as part of its own digitisation and productivity initiatives in 2011 – and now offers similar innovations to its industrial customers. The company reported productivity savings of US$730 million in 2016 alone, thanks to digitising its own processes a