Partner Article

Trapped data prevents organisations understanding manufacturing operations

Legacy approaches to managing manufacturing data are constraining manufacturers’ ability to apply inventive thinking and innovation to their overall manufacturing processes. Deploying new data collection practices and modern analytics upon a backbone of strong quality software will allow organisations to gain visibility over disparate data and leverage them to drive strategic thinking across manufacturing operations, according to InfinityQS.

Many manufacturers not only use siloed data environments, but also have developed cultures that deal with manufacturing problems exclusively at a local level, focusing on individual plant performance. This infrastructure prevents them from analysing manufacturing data on an enterprise-level and therefore limits their ability to gain real-time visibility over larger systemic problems.

Expanding on the issue, InfinityQS commented: “Too many manufacturers are locked into data systems that were implemented decades ago. These systems keep data on site at individual locations, which is effective for tackling problems in a reactive manner at a local level. But, manufacturers cannot conduct more sophisticated analyses on an enterprise level with siloed data.

“At a time when big data analytics, the industrial Internet of Things, and cloud computing are providing unparalleled collection, analysis, and storage of data, not taking advantage of this technology to bring together disparate data streams is a missed opportunity. Deploying a manufacturing intelligence system that centralizes data storage can lead to huge cost-saving opportunities – reduce waste in the manufacturing process, optimize equipment effectiveness, and increase overall performance efficiency.”

The current global economic and political context makes the strategic need for unified visibility over the whole of manufacturing more acute, according to InfinityQS:

“Manufacturers are operating in an increasingly unpredictable and ever-changing global market. Not only is the geopolitical climate somewhat uncertain, but new regulations have sprung up in many markets to deal with technological and economic change. At such a tumultuous time, it’s important for manufacturers to be agile wherever they operate. Unifying and streamlining data collection from disparate plants enables them to attain an organisation-wide view, analyse the data, and rapidly adapt the whole enterprise accordingly.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by QualityManagerUK .