The Industrial IoT Blog
IIoT Insights by Henry Costa
Category: Projects
Real Industrial IoT projects that turned strategy into results — from concept to deployment.
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Before IIoT Had a Name: Lessons from a Sugar Mill in Brazil
Read more: Before IIoT Had a Name: Lessons from a Sugar Mill in BrazilBack in 2008, I got the chance to work on something completely different from what I had done before. A large sugar and ethanol plant in Brazil. Not automotive. Not steel. Not pharma. This was sugar cane coming in straight…
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IT/OT Integration. Lessons from Pulp & Paper
Read more: IT/OT Integration. Lessons from Pulp & PaperI started working with industrial data integration in 2005, and one of my first major projects was at a large pulp and paper manufacturing site in Brazil. This was back in 2006-2007. At that time, nobody was calling it “IIoT.”…
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Beverage Manufacturing Connectivity Before IIoT Was a Thing
Read more: Beverage Manufacturing Connectivity Before IIoT Was a ThingBetween 2012 and 2014, I worked on two large manufacturing connectivity projects in the beverage industry. At the time, nobody called them IIoT projects. They were described as manufacturing intelligence or production reporting initiatives. SAP MII happened to be the…
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Electronics Manufacturing Before IIoT. Lessons from a Global Rollout
Read more: Electronics Manufacturing Before IIoT. Lessons from a Global RolloutWhen I first stepped onto the shop floor of a global electronics connector manufacturer, the biggest challenge was not the machines. It was fragmentation. Each plant had its own way of working, built over years to support high-volume, high-precision manufacturing…
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Shop Floor Connectivity Lessons from a Titanium Dioxide Plant
Read more: Shop Floor Connectivity Lessons from a Titanium Dioxide PlantLong before “IIoT” became a standard term, manufacturing plants already had a real problem to solve. Data was everywhere on the shop floor, but nowhere at the same time. Control systems knew what was happening second by second. Labs held…
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How IIoT and AI Are Transforming Maintenance & Asset Tracking
Read more: How IIoT and AI Are Transforming Maintenance & Asset TrackingIIoT and AI are changing maintenance and asset tracking; it’s not hype, and it’s not just for big manufacturing conferences. I’ve seen the shift up close, from the early days of connecting a few machines to the reality today—where we…
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Lessons From 50+ SAP Digital Manufacturing Projects
Read more: Lessons From 50+ SAP Digital Manufacturing ProjectsIf you spend enough time in manufacturing, you realize the shop floor is the real test for any digital solution. Since 2005, I’ve worked on more than 50 SAP Digital Manufacturing (MII/OEE/PCo) implementations across more than 10 industries, from the…
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IIoT in Logistics: What I’ve Really Seen (and Learned)
Read more: IIoT in Logistics: What I’ve Really Seen (and Learned)If you ask me what’s changed most in logistics over the last 20 years, I’ll tell you straight: it’s the way we connect the physical world—boxes, pallets, forklifts, people—to the digital world of data, automation, and real-time decisions. Industrial IoT…
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What a Steel Mill Taught Me About Real-Time Manufacturing Intelligence
Read more: What a Steel Mill Taught Me About Real-Time Manufacturing IntelligenceIf you want to understand what real-time intelligence really means in manufacturing, spend a day in a steel mill. I learned more about data, people, and decision-making in that noisy, hot, and relentless environment than in any classroom or conference…
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Digital Twins: Bridging the Physical and Digital Worlds
Read more: Digital Twins: Bridging the Physical and Digital WorldsIf you’ve spent any time in a plant or a control room, you know there’s a gap between what’s happening on the floor and what’s visible on the screens in the office. That’s the gap digital twins are meant to…
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Why IIoT Projects Fail (And What I Learned After Being on Both Sides)
Read more: Why IIoT Projects Fail (And What I Learned After Being on Both Sides)If you work in manufacturing long enough—especially in Industrial IoT (IIoT) or Industry 4.0—you’ll see plenty of projects that don’t go as planned. Some stall, others limp along, and a few just quietly fade away. I’ve been on both sides:…
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My First Real IIoT Project: Making Automotive Plants Smarter
Read more: My First Real IIoT Project: Making Automotive Plants SmarterIf I had to pick one project that truly started my Industrial IoT journey, it would be this one. Back in 2017, I was helping a large global automotive parts manufacturer — one of the top 10 worldwide — modernize…