How IoT Is Changing the Face of Innovation

Change happens fast and manufacturers must react quickly and embrace new technologies and practices to succeed. Ensuring distributed teams can work seamlessly together on the latest designs helps companies get products to market faster and with fewer quality issues. Minimizing costly product design errors or shipping delays can be the difference between capturing new markets or going out of business.

“Some of the biggest disruptions in IoT products are changes in electronic components. Sensors, controllers, and batteries are all rapidly evolving to better support new applications like wearables that need smaller and lower-power-consuming parts,” says Keer. “After all, you wouldn’t want to buy a smartwatch that weighs 10 pounds and runs out of juice in four hours.”

Cloud PLM and QMS solutions help manufacturers and their supply chains gain greater visibility and flexibility to pivot and make changes quickly as designs evolve or quality issues arise.

“Some of the biggest disruptions in IoT products are changes in electronic components. Sensors, controllers, and batteries are all rapidly evolving to better support new applications like wearables that need smaller and lower-powerconsuming parts. After all, you wouldn’t want to buy a smartwatch that weighs 10 pounds and runs out of juice in four hours.”

– Michael Keer, CEO, Product Realization Group

According to Keer, a cloudbased solution is critical to keep track of the entire product design including sensors, software, and electronic components. A better understanding of which parts are going obsolete can provide a competitive edge for IoT companies. A strong product development system enables companies to better identify, source, and procure components.

“As engineers identify and document approved components, operations can add those components into Arena. They can figure out lead time for each component, determine if it’s compliant to environment regulations, and speed the time to market,” says Keer.

Companies struggling to keep up with the rapid pace of technological advances like IoT need systems that bring teams and information together quickly, so decisions can be made to improve or resolve design issues. Manual or document-based approaches using spreadsheets, point solutions, and email won’t scale because they don’t provide a single source for all product and quality collaboration—especially with teams that are dispersed.