Digital transformation can provide a competitive edge for many manufacturers, however many smaller companies may not have the capabilities needed to embrace this opportunity and may be left behind. This paper reports on an approach which is attempting to alleviate this by creating a low-cost pathway to help manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) engage with digitalisation. This paper focuses on industrial monitoring and explores the potential for developing simple monitoring systems that solve real operation challenges in SMEs using low-cost, off-the-shelf technologies. A blueprint for developing such systems is presented and then exemplified through a case study system. The paper concludes that low-cost monitoring can be feasible given the right application and operating environment.

数字化转型可以为许多制造商提供竞争优势，但许多较小的公司可能不具备抓住这一机会所需的能力，可能会被甩在后面。本文报告了一种试图通过创建低成本途径来帮助制造业中小型企业 (SME) 参与数字化来缓解这种情况的方法。本文侧重于工业监控，并探讨了开发简单监控系统的潜力，这些系统可以使用低成本、现成的技术解决中小企业的实际运营挑战。介绍了开发此类系统的蓝图，然后通过案例研究系统进行举例说明。该论文得出的结论是，如果应用程序和操作环境合适，低成本监控是可行的。