IDG Contributor Network: Bringing your Internet of Things infrastructure into the digital age
When Campofrio Food Group’s 17-year-old factory in Burgos, Spain, famously burned to the ground, the multinational meat processor turned tragedy into opportunity. With an eye on digital transformation, Campofrio rebuilt the facility as a connected factory, powered by the Internet of Things (IoT). This allowed the state-of-the-art, greenfield meat packing plant to automate processes and provide real-time data on materials, equipment and workers to uncover new business value.
Such “blank canvas” opportunities to bring a factory into the digital age from the ground up don’t happen very often. Most IoT projects are implemented in existing, brownfield environments with traditional legacy systems, requiring an incremental approach. The goal of these gradual integrations has been to optimize or automate processes, gain some efficiencies, and move onto the next low-hanging fruit. But, this approach will not work if businesses want to capture IoT’s true transformational value: the creation of new business models, new revenue streams, new products and new markets.