Telecommunication systems have long been used in manufacturing
processes to monitor and control production to ensure
quality. Manufacturing systems can benefit from wireless production
monitoring and low-cost data communication systems.
Production monitoring is the process of using data devices
or sensors (e.g., video cameras and keypads) that transfer information
via communications lines to keep records of physical
production. The Internet and other communication networks
are moving onto the factory floor to provide companies with an
inexpensive means to link workers and the machines they operate
to remote repositories of information. Distant managers
can watch what’s going on, literally, from wherever they are,
through sensors, tiny Web cameras, and Web displays built
directly into equipment deployed on assembly lines. Previously,
these monitoring devices required physical, wired connections
that limited their routing to production managers. By using the
Internet or other wireless technologies, managers located in
distant facilities can monitor production and ensure problems
can be resolved long before the problem causes lost production
or injury to personnel. Software that integrates Internet technologies
into factory operations was a small percentage of a
$4.8 billion market in 1999. Prepackaged manufacturing monitoring
software is growing by 14.2 percent a year.