Internet of Things Driving Efficiency Gains Across Industries

Using the Internet of Things to connect industrial equipment can improve efficiencies and productivity while reducing costs and waste — which is why companies plan to spend almost $5 trillion on IoT over the next five years.

One company taking full advantage of this sector’s projected growth is Honeywell, which in recent days has announced major partnerships to develop IoT products for retail and logistics companies as well as the oil and gas industry.

Honeywell and Intel will collaborate to develop new IoT solutions for the retail industry, which the partners say will enhance logistics, improve inventory visibility and drive supply chain efficiencies.

The two companies’ work together will focus on sensors, handheld computers, processors, bar code scanners, RFID tags and readers and cloud-based software. These products can help businesses track, monitor and assess the condition of goods moving through the supply chain as well as in brick-and-mortar stores.

This collaboration will help retail and supply chain firms address challenges as consumers are more often turning to online shopping, the companies say. Retailers need greater visibility into their in-store inventory to ensure items ordered online are available for in-store pickup and to enhance customer service.

Honeywell is also collaborating with Aereon on IoT products to help oil and gas companies boost the safety, efficiency and reliability of their operations.

The partnership will combine Honeywell’s Industrial Internet of Things ecosystem with Aereon’s air emissions solutions for the oil and gas sector.

As an example of how the food and beverage industry can use IoT technologies to improve its environmental management, Fetzer Vineyards says it is installing smart water metering technology from Apana that the winery expects to reduce its water use by a quarter.

The smart water meters, currently being installed throughout the winery’s Hopland, California campus, will allow Fetzer Vineyards to pinpoint leaks and water waste incidents in real time. Fetzer Vineyards says the technology will allow it to avoid unnecessary waste and meet its 2020 water efficiency goal two years early, in 2018.

“Integrating Apana’s data analytics and cloud computing technologies with our winery operations allows us to leverage crucial environmental data to achieve our sustainability goals,” said Cindy DeVries, chief operating officer of Fetzer Vineyards in a statment.

The smart water meters are part of Apana’s Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution. Because energy use is closely tied to water use, Fetzer Vineyards expects the water meters could contribute to reductions of more than 10,000 kilowatt hours of energy in addition to savings of up to four million gallons of water annually.