Implement IIoT with LIMS for your Lab 4.0
IIoT and LIMS for smart manufacturing
What is the scope of an IIoT-laboratory with connected IIoT-devices?
IIoT means Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and has a lot in common with the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), a virtually connected network of physical devices, such as lab equipment and instruments. This is the modern solution to solve tricky tasks that laboratory technicians have traditionally in a laboratory environment, causing hours or days of direct monitoring.
In addition to collecting data about equipment performance and laboratory conditions, lab technicians can use the IoT to deposit vast amounts of experimental data into the cloud directly from instruments and control experiments remotely.
But the question is: who (or what) is going to support humans in these processes, especially in the manufacturing fields? In this article, we will talk about the role of LIMS (laboratory information management system) software in the digitalization and automation of workflows and how it can be the bridge to your Lab 4.0. In particular, we will analyze the case of [FP]-LIMS, the LIMS solution designed by the German company Fink & Partner GmbH.
However, let us analyze some critical facts before fully answering this question.
For the first time, the expression “Internet of Things” was used in 1999. What does devices performing functions with the sporadic need for human interaction mean?
Together with the concepts of Machine-to-Machine (M2M), cyber-physical systems (CPS), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud and cognitive computing, digital supply chain, and artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) belongs to the root-concepts of Industry 4.0.
However, let us first distinguish between the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which is essential to understand the role of LIMS.
Internet of Things has been a rising concept in the last 5 years. Thanks to the extensive use of the Internet Protocol (IP), the rise of ubiquitous computing and the developing use of data analytics have been putting the bases for the concept of IoT.
In other words Internet of Things can be explained as an extension of the Internet and other network connections to different sensors devices, mostly connected to other “smart” devices. Their most important quality is to interact – under the concept of interoperability – and share data with other devices and networks. All this with little or no need for human power or interaction.
Industrial Internet of Things (also written as Industrial IoT or IIoT) sets the concrete goals of the industrial digital transformation, better known as Industry 4.0. In fact, IIoT concerns automation, optimization, intelligent manufacturing and smart industry, performance management, maintenance, and industrial control.