If you’re like me, you loved those “choose your own adventure” books as a kid.
For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, these books were designed so that at the end of each section you have the choice between 2 or more options that let you have an active hand in how the story will go.
Much like IoT pilot projects, some choices end with complete disaster, while others allow you to be the hero and save the day.
So I decided to try my hand at creating my own version of the “choose your own adventure” story, using a day in the life of a factory engineer as my inspiration.
Are you ready to join me on this tech-fueled adventure into the Internet of Things?
The Adventure Begins
It’s 9 AM on Monday. You walk into the facility where you work and notice something unusual – it’s quiet.
You freeze. How long have these machines been turned off?!
Every minute that the factory’s equipment is not running is money lost for the company. If the machines were off all weekend, that could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost product.
What do you do?
- Click here if you quickly try to get the machines up and running again.
- Click here if you call up your boss to see what you should do.
You make the call to try to get things up and running again before filling in the higher ups.
After all, getting things back to normal is the first priority before you can start investigating what went wrong.
You quickly make your way over to the PLCs controlling the machines. At first glance, nothing looks awry.
Unfortunately, your system has been running the same way since the 70s, so you don’t have any way to get the data from the PLCs to find out what happened.
The best you can do is try to reset everything and hope it works. It’s risky – if there is an electrical issue you could blow a fuse or even start a fire. And if the machine is broken you risk doing more damage to it by starting it up again.
What do you do?
- Click here if you restart the machine.
- Click here if you decide to bring in a maintenance technician to diagnose the problem.
Knowing your boss, it’s probably a good idea to give them a call before they find out what happened on their own.
You wouldn’t want to start the work week on a bad note.
However, right as you pick up the phone to give them a call, you see them stride in the door and pause.
Looks like they just figured it out on their own, and they don’t look happy.
You’ve always been a level-headed person which is more than you can say about your boss. It might be a good idea to go see how you can help get things up and running again quickly.
But you also don’t want to get the full brunt of the blame for the situation…
What do you do next?
The first step of tech support is always hitting the reset button, right?
Your finger hovers over the button for a moment.
Well, here goes nothing!
Let’s let the professionals handle this one.
These machines cost more than your yearly salary and you don’t want to risk being liable for breaking something.
Luckily, the maintenance technician is right around the corner and is happy to pop in to see what’s going on.
While you wait for them to diagnose the problem, you decide to research ways to prevent this from happening in the future. If only there was some way to get alerts when the machines stop running or encounter issues!
As you start glancing over a blog post on Industry 4.0, you realize that this type of machine monitoring system does exist, and, in fact, there are many options to choose from.
But where to start? This stuff looks kind of overwhelming. You don’t even know what a gateway device is!
- Click here if you reach out to Temboo’s Product Outreach team for help.
- Click here if you decide to think about it some other time.
You approach your boss, trying to look as humble as possible.
“So, it seems there was a problem with the machines this weekend….”
Your boss glares at you and you see a shudder of fury behind their eyes.
Yikes.
- Click here if you quickly assure them that you are in the process of contacting the maintenance technician to diagnose and fix the problem.
- Click here if ask your boss what to do.
You duck down behind a large machine to give yourself a chance to think.
Unfortunately, your boss has incredible eyesight and spots you right away.
Well so much for this game of hide-and-seek.
Might as well go face the music.
What now?
You press what you think is the power button to restart the machine.
At first, you think this has fixed the issue. The machine whirrs back to life much to your relief.
But then you hear a terrible noise.
Smoke starts spewing from the back of the machine and you think you smell burning.
This never would have happened if you’d just listened to the maintenance technician when they were telling you about that Kosmos IoT System.
You would have gotten an alert the second the machine turned off, minimizing the amount of downtime needed to diagnose and fix the issue.
But now, the factory’s alarm system is going off and everyone is headed for the exits.
You make your way outside, knowing that will probably be the last time you cross through these doors. Your boss is not the forgiving type.
THE END.
You decide to quickly shoot an email to hey@temboo.com.
You’ve heard Temboo has great service and that their Kosmos IoT System can be up and running in less than 30 minutes, which is much faster than any of the other IoT platforms you’ve been looking at.
Since your problem is relatively simple, you like the fact that you can set up run a pilot program on your own, and that Temboo offers a free trial of Kosmos.
To your surprise, Sarah from the Product Outreach team at Temboo responds right away and offers to set up a call that afternoon.
You’re not sure if you are ready for a call, but you don’t want to risk this type of issue happening again in the meantime.
What do you do?
- Click here if you set up a call with Sarah for that afternoon.
- Click here if you decide to deal with it later.
You decide to think about it later.
After all, it’s pretty unlikely that whatever happened with the machine this weekend will happen again….right?
Well, you don’t have time to worry about it right now.
Besides, the maintenance technician seems to have everything under control.
They look at you and say, “Good thing you didn’t hit that big red reset button. The machine is clogged and starting it up again could have resulted in permanent damage or even a fire.”
As you breathe a sigh of relief, you notice your boss walking in the door. They do not look like they are in a good mood and seem to be aware of the situation.
What do you do?
Before they have a chance to lay into you, you calmly assure your boss you have the situation under control.
You let them know that you are on your way to contact the maintenance technician for the machinery and that they will be able to diagnose and repair the situation once they arrive.
Your boss actually looks relieved and seems happy that you took control of the situation.
“Nice work,” they say, “Glad to hear that I can count on you when these situations happen. Now what are you going to do to make sure that this never happens again?”
You freeze. You hadn’t thought that far ahead.
Suddenly, you remember that article you read recently about Industry 4.0. You’re not an expert but maybe now is the time to show your initiative and drive to get the job done.
On the other hand, you don’t want to risk embarrassing yourself with your lack of technical knowledge…
- Click here if you ask, “Have you heard about machine monitoring?”
- Click here if you say, “Well, I am still working on a plan.”
You ask your boss what they think you should do.
“Well my first step would be bringing in the maintenance technician to see if they can figure out what is going on,” they say, dryly.
“Right. On it.”
You immediately call up the technician who arrives quickly.
As they are fiddling with the machine, they start telling you about a system they set up at another factory that can send alerts when the machine stops running, hits a certain temperature threshold, or any other rule you want to set.
This sounds like exactly what you need to show your boss they can trust you to handle these types of situations.
“But what about the price?” you ask.
The technician suggests that you check out the Kosmos IoT System from Temboo. Apparently, the pricing is great and they even offer a free trial if you want to try out a pilot before committing to a purchase.
You do a quick search on your phone for Temboo and realize this Kosmos System might be exactly what you’ve been looking for.
- Click here if you shoot a quick email to hey@temboo.com to learn more.
- Click here if you decide to try setting up a Kosmos application on your own.
You decide to set up a call with Sarah.
After all, the people at Temboo are experts on retrofitting machinery and setting up alert systems and this type of monitoring should not be too complicated.
Sarah suggests that you try setting up a pilot while on the free trial plan of Kosmos.
You’re game, but your boss might need some convincing. You’re not sure if they would be ok with setting up a connected sensor system on the factory floor.
Then again, you never know until you ask!
- Click here if you talk to your boss about setting up Kosmos.
- Click here if you decide to try setting up a pilot project.
“Have you heard about machine monitoring?”
Your boss looks impressed.
“I see you’ve been doing your research on the latest trends in Industry 4.0,” they say. “Glad to hear you are thinking ahead. Would you like to be in charge of setting up a pilot?”
You are shocked and a little bit intimidated. After all, you’ve never done anything like this before.
Before you can answer, the technician chimes in suggesting that you check out the Kosmos IoT System from Temboo. Apparently, he’s used the platform before and raves about the easy set up process, unparalleled customer support, and functionality of it.
You do a quick search on your phone for Temboo and realize this Kosmos System might be exactly what you’ve been looking for.
What do you do?
- Click here if you shoot a quick email to hey@temboo.com to learn more.
- Click here if you decide to try setting up a Kosmos application on your own.
“Well,” you say, “I am still in the process of figuring that out…”
“I see. Well get back to me with your suggestion by the end of the day. We can’t afford to have the machines shut down again.”
Great. That’s not very much time. You sigh loudly.
The technician, who has been fiddling with the machines nearby, looks at you sympathetically.
“Have you heard of machine monitoring?” he asks.
You have to laugh. “Yes, in fact, I have. But I have never implemented anything like that and I wouldn’t know where to start.”
The technician suggests that you check out the Kosmos IoT System from Temboo.
Apparently, he’s used the platform before and raves about the easy set up process, unparalleled customer support, and functionality of it.
You do a quick search on your phone for Temboo and realize this Kosmos System might be exactly what you’ve been looking for.
What do you do?
You decide to try building a pilot project on your own using Temboo’s Kosmos System.
You head to temboo.com and sign up for a free trial.
The setup process is well-documented and you get your PLC monitoring application up and running in under an hour.
As you start to view the data from your machines, you realize you just built an industrial IoT application on your own – and you don’t even know how to code!
You decide to show your boss what you’ve built.
You show them how the email and text message alerts, how to export the data reading, and how to add new users and PLCs.
They are thrilled!
“I’m very impressed with how you solved this problem,” they say to you. “I think we should roll this out factory-wide as soon as possible.”
Thanks to Temboo’s great customer support, you’re able to get your whole factory using Kosmos within a week.
Your boss is so thrilled with the results that you wind up rolling out Kosmos at all 5 of the factories at your company.
Because you’ve done such an amazing job, you decide to launch a new career in IoT, helping others like you bring their factories to the future.
You enjoy great success for the rest of your career and live happily ever after.
THE END.
You decide to talk to your boss about setting up Kosmos.
You show them a demo video and they seem impressed.
“This seems like something that could be a huge help for us,” they say.
“Would you be ok if I set up a pilot?”
“I don’t see why not,” they reply. “Just make sure you set up a new wifi network so that our system is secure and separate from the rest of the internet in the factory.”
You get Kosmos set up and running quickly and things are looking good.
Later that week, you get an alert that the machines are down and you’re able to get them up and running again before your boss even notices.
The system is such a success that you wind up getting tasked with rolling out Kosmos at all of your company’s locations.
Your boss is thrilled and promotes you up the ladder until one day you decide to venture out on your own, and start your own business.
Soon, you’re CEO of a Fortune 500 company and those days as a factory engineer who was scared of their boss are distant memories.
THE END.
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