How will the Internet of Things subvert the traditional manufacturing industry?

If I hadn't listened to the speech by James Heppelmann, global CEO of PTC, on how the Internet of Things will change the traditional manufacturing industry, I'm afraid I wouldn't have felt so deeply the subversive impact that a revolutionary era is about to bring.

In June, Boston is sunny and the climate is pleasant. It is not only one of the cradles of American culture, but also the innovation center in the east after Silicon Valley. Hopman's speech is the opening of PTC Live Global 20 14. More than 2000 user representatives and media from all over the world attended the meeting. As a representative of the Chinese version of Forbes, I was invited to participate.

Since the birth of communication technology, the global population of 1/3 has been connected by telephone, mobile phone and Internet. 20 10 is a milestone in the development of the internet of things: the number of connected objects exceeds the number of connected people. More importantly, this trend of connecting things is accelerating, and the "Internet of Everything" seems unstoppable.

According to IDC's forecast, in 20 16 years, the market value created by Internet of Things products and solutions will reach 1.9 trillion US dollars; McKinsey regards the Internet of Things as one of 12 subversive technologies that change life, business and global economy. In 2025, the market scale is expected to reach 6.2 trillion US dollars, which is 10 times that of the 3D printing market.

"The Internet of Things is different from the traditional Internet," Herman said. The Internet emphasizes the connection between people, and the Internet of Things emphasizes the connection between things. "Changes in the connected world are the driving force for innovation."

In Herman's view, the arrival of the Internet of Things era is inseparable from the encouragement of three major factors:

The development of chips-Moore's Law makes the computing speed of chips develop rapidly in the past decades.

The development of communication-various communication technologies make connection an indispensable part of people's lives;

Development of intelligent products (that is, "things" in "Internet of Things").

About 1 years ago, Hopman and Michael E. Porter, a world-renowned professor at Harvard Business School, jointly launched a research on manufacturing and smart connection products in the Internet of Things era. "Our research found that the explosive growth of smart connected products will redefine the whole industrial chain, and will have an impact on the industrial structure, and will also change competitors' competition strategies," Hupman said. This will be a great event that will have a great impact on everyone. Even the speed and subversion of this change make people feel a little scary. "

"The world is changing, the products we make are changing, and the source of value generated by products is also changing and shifting." Herman said. So, what radical changes will the Internet of Things bring to the traditional manufacturing industry? Herman analyzed it from three aspects.

First of all, the original value created by hardware is being enjoyed by the value created by software, and the value associated with hardware created by software will surpass any previous period. Herman explained that the combination of software and hardware plays an increasingly important role in product sales by taking smart phones as an example. "Many of our manufacturing customers told me that their products have millions or even tens of millions of lines of code, which is also a software company." Herman said.

In the manufacturing field of China, this trend is also developing. For example, Yuan Jing Energy, a fan manufacturer, upgraded from a traditional fan manufacturer to a "smart fan manufacturer" several years ago, and realized intelligent control and operation by adding sensors and writing software codes for fans.

Secondly, connection allows us to provide new choices for the innovation of intelligent hardware in software, thus creating "new intelligence". The subversive nature of cloud computing is thus reflected. When manufacturing intelligent connection products, people can choose to integrate most of the software directly with the hardware, so as to obtain faster response speed, lower network dependence and higher security; You can also put all applications in the cloud, so that the hardware becomes a terminal interface, and the complexity of manufacturing will be greatly reduced. All valuable applications can be flexibly configured through the network, with wider choices and faster updates, and the value of hardware will be reduced. Of course, we can also combine the two, make some core functions into embedded software and put some applications in the cloud.

Third, smart connected products will bring about changes in business models-from selling products to selling services. The mode innovation of Philips Lighting is a typical case. They changed the mode of selling lights before, signed a 10 lighting service contract with parking garages in Washington, and installed led lights for these garages. "LED lamp is an expensive lighting equipment, with a large one-time investment, but it has obvious advantages in energy saving and efficiency." Herman explained. For customers, it is undoubtedly a great challenge to install expensive LED lights at one time. But Philips has adopted a new service model, and they can make enough profits from the energy saved of $2 million every year. During the service period, Philips will not only provide high-quality products, but also continue to provide good services-make lighting intelligent through sensors and chips, so as to monitor, operate and serve through the system platform. From the mode point of view, this is a win-win situation-users get the required "comfort", while manufacturers and service providers get stable and sustained profits.

So, what "new capabilities" should manufacturers give traditional products to make them have the characteristics of intelligent connected products? Herman described it from four aspects: monitoring ability, control ability, optimization ability and automation ability.

Enthusiastic Herman used to be an engineer and entrepreneur. Under his leadership, PTC has leapfrogged from product design software to collaborative design, product life cycle management, Internet of Things platform and other fields. In recent years, the company has maintained a sustained growth trend, improving the layout of manufacturing life-cycle software tools and platforms through mergers and acquisitions. Hopman himself is a big fan of the Internet of Things experience. In the speech, he demonstrated the remote control of various smart products and equipment in the home through the Internet, allowing the audience to witness the scenes of energy management, entertainment system and security system at home with one click.

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