Smart Manufacturing in the Internet of Things Era

The purpose of this chapter is to synthesize opportunities and challenges related to the IoT within the manufacturing environment based on a project at Villeroy & Boch (V&B). The chapter seeks to visualize the impact of IoT methodologies, big data [2, 3] and Predictive Analytics towards the ceramics production. Key findings and challenges are related to both to the technical and organizational dimension tended to overshadow optimism. Organizations, such as V&B have been working with big data sets but emerging business models are now looking to gain deep insights from the so-called “data exhaust” that’s now become a “data gold mine” for business optimization embracing the move toward revolutionizing their production through big data and Predictive Analytics.