What are the barriers to success in your business? In the first post of this series, we largely focused on the concerns of plant managers. This post will focus on how capturing data on the shop floor, assessing it and learning from it can help drive business performance. Here’s a closer look at how leveraging data in manufacturing can eliminate barriers to success on the floor.
Big Data, Explained
What is big data? In simple terms, it’s the process of capturing a large volume of data that can then be analyzed to learn how certain aspects of a business can be improved. Because of the large amount of data that is acquired, which can be both structured and unstructured, it can be a challenge to weed through it all to zero in on specifics, but those who do it well benefit from it greatly over time.
Leveraging Data in Manufacturing
We already know how important data capture is when it comes to assessing manufacturing performance and analyzing paths forward, but do you know just how data can be administered to run a successful plant and how significant doing so can be?
Take it from a recent survey from the IBM Institute for Business Value, “Analytics: The Real-World Use of Big Data in Manufacturing,” which states that more than half of all industrial manufacturers state that big data is creating competitive advantages for their organizations. A separate study conducted by Honeywell Process Solutions and KPC Research discovered that 67 percent of manufacturing executives plan to invest in big data analytics, even despite leadership initiatives to reduce costs. Why? Because the return on investment can’t be ignored.
Key Benefits of Leveraging Data in Manufacturing
The Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT, combines the technologies and solutions to capture equipment data with data analytics to interpret data sets to help reduce equipment breakdowns by more than 25 percent and reduce unscheduled downtime by 23 percent. Noting this, you can see how any upfront investment into data capture and data analytics would have long-term payoff as it pertains to streamlined productivity and reduced issues that could cause a lapse in shop floor production and lost profits.
Furthermore, studies show that manufacturing intelligence can help lead to better-informed decisions in real-time, optimize costs and reduce wasteful resources. Forbes also states big data can help predict the risks of downtime, helping manufacturers take a more holistic approach to how they operate their business.
How Data Can Boost Performance on the Floor
Let’s dig in a little bit more into the benefits that we outlined in the above section as it pertains to how data can boost performance on the shop floor. Here’s a closer look:
Gain Valuable Insight
As we said above, data can help enhance manufacturing intelligence – and significantly. It can outline what a plant’s biggest risks are and chart a course for how to prevent them in the future. It can zero in on safety data and help leaders take actionable steps toward a safer all-around workplace. And utilizing data can help track performance in real-time and assess where compliance issues are.
Standardize Procedure
You have a vision and expectations for your company, but do your employees know what they are? You may be surprised to learn that the utilization of data can help assess any confusion that workers might have so that they can be properly addressed and processes can be further streamlined throughout the business.
Highlight Areas for Improvement
One of the big competitive advantages that a plant stands to realize from utilizing data is improving productivity – and sometimes, this is done in a way of assessing where weaknesses are and then turning these weaknesses into strengths. On this note, data is able to highlight areas where improvements can be made.
Analyze and Develop Actionable Solutions
Whether it’s predictive analytics to more proactively address certain issues that may arise or identifying data to help maintain or even increase productivity, analyzing data can help – and the benefits of adopting this sort of approach far outweigh the negatives.
Contact Anvl Today
Looking to utilize data, gain actionable insight and take your operations to the next level? Anvl is here to help. Anvl’s solution assists plant leadership with safety assessments, quality compliance, and operational assistance- all transformed into smart, dynamic workflows. For more information, contact Anvl today or click here to see a demo.
