Together with a large number of partners, Microsoft has launched an industry initiative for the digitization of the manufacturing industry: “Microsoft in Manufacturing” is intended to make the development of new solutions for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) even faster, more efficient and more reliable. To this end, reusable reference implementations of frequently required industrial applications are being developed for enterprise customers.

The networking of machines and plants with cloud-based IT infrastructures in the Industrial Internet of Things allows companies to bring together people, processes, data and things, to obtain new information and insights and to derive actions from them. At least, this is how IDC describes the advantages of connected manufacturing in its study ” Industrial IoT inGermany2021 “: Based on data, companies can make faster and better decisions and react more flexibly and agilely to market changes.

Nevertheless, the implementation of IIoT concepts in the German manufacturing industry leaves much to be desired. Study author Marco Becker, Senior Consultant at IDC Germany, sees more practical deficits as the reason for this: “Use cases from the areas of remote maintenance and control as well as production planning and supply chain management are of particular interest to manufacturing companies. Easily transferable references make it easy for users to transfer and expand their own traditional business model to new variants. Their development therefore offers a real competitive advantage.”

Reference solutions for the manufacturing industry

It is precisely these urgently needed use cases that Microsoft and its partners are now offering the industry through “Microsoft in Manufacturing”. The spectrum of partners ranges from global consulting companies and highly specialized technology experts to special contacts for smaller medium-sized companies. The partners include (in alphabetical order): Accenture , All for One , AVEVA , CloudRAIL , Crate.io , DnA Industry Solutions , EY , ITA Academy GmbH, o9 Solutions , PTC , PwC , Robotron , Sight Machine und TTTech Industrial
In close cooperation with these partners, reference solutions have been created that can be used directly by other companies for their own objectives. This provides the manufacturing industry with reliable and scalable solutions that they can use to increase efficiency, productivity and the safety of their machinery and equipment.

Hero Use Cases: Scenarios in Particular Demand

The initiative’s initial experience shows: Microsoft customers are particularly interested in special application scenarios for a quick and concrete start into the digitization of manufacturing. Use Cases for condition monitoring and for monitoring anomalies or vibrations, as well as scenarios for the management and analysis of, for example, energy consumption, waste or bottlenecks in production, are particularly in demand. In addition, the project partners are developing solutions for tasks such as remote assist, asset connectivity, production planning and optimization, or the general provision of a data platform.