SmartFactories & SmartCities

The internet is probably the most important invention and creation of the last decades - we do not doubt it. It has opened a new field to innovate and collaborate differently. Today, it is also a way to develop new technologies that will help us to provide solutions to significant human challenges. Beyond that, the connected-world offers invaluable opportunities to re-imagine the way we live as a society. It can do this by creating a "smart" way of living life. Let me convince you.

Smartphones, smart buildings, smart cities, smart factories, and smart industries are all part of IoT's impact in contemporary times. The term "smart" encapsulates a connection to the internet or wireless network. For example, your "smart" phone is a connected-window to the internet; that is why you can watch movies not stored on your phone and perform other numerous functions.

Smart cities and Smart industries will play a role you might not even imagine now. Where IoT will also be an important subject here, the connection between all digital & non-digital devices in a city and factory will drastically improve the quality of life as we know it. On top of this, it will allow our governments and business players to manage resources efficiently and prevent unnecessary production that will lead us to overproduction or avoidable waste. We will talk about how Smart cities and Smart factories meet each other in the new tech paradigm of cloud computing, 5G, and IoT.

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Understanding Smart cities and Smart factories

There is not a consensus on the official definition of smart cities. Still, some essential elements are or will organize any smart city. Regular cities will evolve with technology's power to embrace new intelligent systems, devices, and objects. Smart cities will contain more advanced networks, allowing them to connect easily to street objects, like bus stations, trains, cars, bikes, etc. and, for example, transmitting data through a wireless platform. These cities will have a framework of smart technologies to manage the overwhelming urban environment growth. These new cities will be connected with our citizens through mobile phones, computers, and other digital devices.

On the other hand, smart factories are manufacturing plants that apply intelligent computing, big data, and digital technologies in physical production. Smart factories are the new phase of the Industrial Revolution that relies heavily on embedded sensors, machine learning, connectivity, and automation. The use of IoT platforms in factories connects the various automated processes and machines, thereby eliminating the need for frequent human interventions to handle the transition in phases and operations, among other things.

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Key roles Smart cities & factories will play.

The benefits of adopting intelligent technology on a city-wide scale are numerous. The following are the main ones of smart cities and smart factories in enhancing human life quality.

• Faster transportation: In a city where all vehicles are connected, there will be real-time traffic monitoring and reduction. A smart traffic light can also decrease traffic, thereby reducing the number of cars on the road and inevitably congestion and air pollution. Also, the adoption of smart parking will reduce the time people spend on finding parking spots. Perhaps eliminate traffic lights with upcoming new autonomous vehicles.

• Sustainable energy production: Connecting a city's residential and commercial buildings, will allow better energy utilization. In smart cities, energy is redirected to where intelligent grids are needed. Consequently, the amount of energy consumed in residential and commercial structures are usually less.

• Connected devices: Embedded sensors in all physical infrastructure and city objects to open new business ideas that support to have a more sustainable city. For example, these systems can detect explosions and immediately alert emergency services workers for a faster response. In the case of waste management, sensors can be installed in bins to track their content level, and waste trucks come only when required to plan under demand, saving time, and reducing fuel consumption.

• Optimizing manufacturing productivity: as we mentioned, IoT provides new tools and techniques to improve factories' productivity through enhanced resources management. Smart machines collect and analyze data on the entire supply chain network in real-time, allowing them to know the precise amount of resources needed in every operation. As a result, they eliminate waste of resources and consequently impacting on an increase in productivity.

Today, cities and factories are rapidly embracing smart technologies. In 2017, General Electric applied the use of IoT sensors to monitor gas consumption in turbines and generators to ensure the efficient use of gas and to detect any failures early on.

• Better quality products: The effects of increased productivity through IoT applications have cost reduction and revenue savings. This extra money can be invested in product improvement or post-service development.

• Creates more jobs: According to a study conducted by California Manufacturing Technology Consulting, smart factories have the potential to boost employment rates of the current manufacturing workforce, 2-4 times.

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Wrapping up today's topic. Can you imagine that your fridge tells to your supermarket the milk bottle is about to end. Your supermarket plans its dairy product repository based on thousands of refrigerators inside our homes and neighborhood people's consumption. Then our lovely supermarket makes the order to the dairy factory predicting the demand, our routine. Next, our dairy factory grows its cows accordingly, a sustainable demand plan, reducing unnecessary production. There are millions of examples, can you make your own one?