Development of IoT Solutions According to the PLM Approach

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is one of the nine enabling technologies of Industry 4.0, which in recent years has seen an exponential increase in its applications. New production devices that are naturally equipped with this technology and the retrofitting solutions for industrial devices already installed in our industries, promote the demand of IIoT solutions. The Internet of Thing is often associated with Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) due to its ability to provide data which, when appropriately analyzed, feed the PLM system allowing for the tracking of the product along its life cycle. In this paper, the point of view is reversed: the IIoT solution, which is designed, implemented and maintained in an industrial system, is the product that must be managed with a PLM approach. IIoT solutions have characteristics that require the use of a PLM approach: they must meet complex requirements, they must adhere to standards and be compatible with the company's existing IT infrastructure, they are complex systems that interface many other systems and have a long lifecycle during which they are subject to innumerable modifications and extensions. It is therefore justified, from a research point of view, to investigate the characteristics that a PLM approach must have to support the development of an IIoT solution. This paper, based on the theory and evidences from industries and academies, traces a reference framework for the development of an IIoT solution supported by the PLM approach. To test the validity of the proposed guidelines, the paper illustrates their application in the development of a simple IoT solution dedicated to teaching and training.