The factory floor is no longer just about conveyor belts and forklifts — it’s becoming a living, thinking system. Powered by Industrial IoT (IIoT) , today’s manufacturing plants are smarter, faster, and more resilient than ever before. Sensors, edge computing, and intelligent software are replacing clipboards and guesswork, ushering in a new era of data-driven production. π From Machines to Microservices At the heart of IIoT is data — collected from temperature gauges, vibration sensors, machine vision systems, and more. This information is fed into real-time analytics engines running on edge devices or local servers. Instead of passively waiting for things to break, factories now operate with predictive insight . For example, a CNC machine might detect subtle increases in motor vibration — a sign of a failing bearing. With Edge AI , the system flags it before it becomes catastrophic, allowing technicians to replace the part during scheduled do...