Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1398328
38 SMT007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2021 how "intuitive" or "user friendly" your new tech is purported to be, users will need training and an understanding of what the systems do and how. ey will need to know what they are seeing and just what the systems are telling them in order to trust them and put them to effective use. ere is a natural human reluctance to things that are new and things that they don't understand. e best way to gain acceptance (and enthusiasm) for a technology project is to involve the users early as the systems are initially envisioned and planned. You'll want to encourage a feeling of ownership among the user community so they will be invested in the systems' success. ey will also be the ones who can tell you if and how the new systems will enhance their effectiveness (or not)— extremely valuable information especially at the early planning stages. To be successful, system implementations of this kind take a multi-disciplinary team— users, IT, management, suppliers and techni- cal consultants—and a well-managed project with a strong project leader. Adding IIoT in the plant is, in many ways, a continuation of a long-running process of bringing systems support closer to the real- ities of the plant floor. Manual reporting was supplanted by bar-code scanners and touch- screens; paper documentation is giving way to workstation terminals; voice recognition enables hands-free operation. Now IIoT is col- lecting more data (without additional burden on workers) and making more information available through wearables, tablets, smart- phones and other devices. It's not quite so clear-cut beyond the walls of the plant and warehouse, however. When items ship—be it a small package, pallet, container or truckload—there is typically little or no infor- mation coming back to the plant or warehouse except notice of delivery, and even that is not common and usually not very timely. IIoT changes all that. Location-aware devices coupled with detailed tracking of each item, case, pallet, and container (and environmental conditions for quality con- trol) offers a whole new level of supply chain management including such capabilities as the redirection of enroute goods to places where they might be more needed. And that's in addition to better management of the sup-