The influence of Big Data in manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize how we build, produce and live. It also presents fresh challenges to the manufacturing industry. Chief among them is the exponential growth in volume, velocity and complexity of data coursing throughout the entire manufacturing enterprise. With ever-greater amounts of machine-to-machine, person-to-machine and person-to-person data being captured and analyzed, manufacturers have the opportunity to lower costs, increase profit and gather valuable insights. Here’s how:
The Evolution of Data in Manufacturing: “Just in Time” to “Data in Motion”
For decades, manufacturers have invested in and developed technologies that leverage “just in time” and “Six Sigma” methodologies to drive flexibility and scalability into their production and supply chain operations, achieve zero defect quality performance, and efficiently meet the growing demand and expectations of a connected and intelligent consumer market—all while reducing cost and increasing product margins.
Over the last 20 years, data analytics has moved front and center as the means to drive value across the entire manufacturing value chain. At the enterprise level, it has accounted for the lion’s share of development and investment — resulting in an alphabet soup of business software systems, from ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and MRP (Material Resource Planning), to SCM (Supply Chain Management), PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management).