Industrial Internet could save $20bn a year

The report, titled The Industrial Internet@Work, suggests that more than 300 million man hours in servicing complex machines could be saved if the Industrial Internet (II) were implemented throughout major industries worldwide.

According to the report, the power industry could save up to 52 million man-hours per year whereas the healthcare sector could save an estimated 4 million man-hours per year, respectively.

Alongside the potential benefits of the II, the report also suggests that predictive analytics and new machine-human collaboration in the workplace could boost productivity, create new jobs and skills and minimise unplanned downtime.

A highly skilled workforce will emerge as the II unleashes a new standard in efficiency

GE chief economist Marco Annunziata

The report finds that the time and costs wasted are largely due to inefficiencies in how information is gathered, stored, accessed and shared.

It states that, as information becomes more intelligent, the future of work will be transformed and a new, more highly skilled workforce will emerge.

Workers will be able to spend more of their time in higher value-added activities, while upgrading their knowledge, skills and experience at a much faster pace, it says.

GE chief economist Marco Annunziata said: “Gas turbine maintenance workers, for instance, do much of their service work on a set timetable and lack full real-time information about the condition of the turbine parts.

“A highly skilled workforce will emerge as the II unleashes a new standard in efficiency that saves entire industries billions of dollars in unplanned downtime and turns industrial operators into skilled information-workers.”