It’s no surprise that in the era of Cambridge Analytica and digital political interference, data is extremely valuable to large corporations and private entities.
You can move mountains with data, to greatly impact the outcome of various world events. It’s not just a marketing tool. Data gives a voice and record to our machine processes and manufacturing workflows.
With data, we can do things like predicting maintenance schedules before a machine slows or breaks down. ERP systems are coveted more for their data handling and backup processes than anything else. Sometimes we have so much data that we don’t know what to do with it, besides accumulating more data and running meaningless weekly queries.
When the Going Gets Tough
Manufacturers have been facing an uncertain market that ebbs and flows with political measures. Put data to work to secure your position and get solid ground beneath your factory’s feet.
You have data on suppliers, pricing, production, operations, quality and service that in short, can quickly pay big dividends.
Use your data to gain insight into the competitive aftermarket parts and service pricing. Usually, when one area slows down, another picks up. If new equipment purchases are low, parts and services tend to pick up. Now is the best time to dig in to your existing data pool to uncover gems of new revenue or extra savings, while preparing for a potential economic downturn.
Don’t Stagnate… Automate!
With employee churn, it can be difficult to maintain the right amount of labor. Manual labor may be counterproductive anyway, now is the time to adopt automated processes for the production line our your sales system.
Communication is Key
Having just an ERP system will no longer suffice as a standalone solution for a modern manufacturer. It’s now standard practice to employ PLM and CRM, along with your ERP system. With an updated stack, you will lower cycle times, improve quality, and streamline sales processes by using real-time data that is shared across departments.
When all of your data is synced together, you gain a high-level view of your manufacturing business. It will become clear where you are losing money and where you are profiting most, along with being easier to optimize everything.
A Document-Driven Market
As manufacturers continue to produce heaps of paperwork documenting production, trade, transportation, development and more… many manufacturers are simplifying their processes through automation. This means more data! Everything digital becomes data and the supply chain will soon rely upon it. If you’d like more visibility of your supply chain, ditch the manual paper-pushing and get digital in 2020.
One of the most effective and groundbreaking technologies to come out of Industry 4.0 is the “Digital Twin”. These real-time virtual models help optimize every aspect of manufacturing. Utilizing digital twins provides vast amounts of data that can be used to bolster your production efficiency. It requires a synthesis of IoT (in its simplest form - sensors on machines) and the ability to capture real-time data.
Make Data Work for You
When you’ve automated processes you should feel the weight of bottlenecks lifted. People can access the information they need when they need it and manage daily operations with ease. Automation can boost productivity and optimize processes across departments, from inventory and supply to demand planning, order processing, invoicing, customer support, and regulatory compliance. If you’re doing it all manually, there’s an automation solution for it.
Happier and More Productive Employees
The data revolution is making for better job satisfaction, as workers are empowered to help customers better. With automation, employees can forego tedious tasks of the past and their workdays become more fulfilling.
If data can make your business faster, smarter, and a happier place to work, it’s clear why it’s become so valuable across industries.
The Dark Side of Data
There is of course a lot of planning and investment in data security. In today’s tech-savvy world, hackers are a dime a dozen and it’s shockingly easy for them to break into your business digitally. The ramifications can be extremely costly, and when there is so much at stake, both parties compete for data.
Have you checked your accounts lately? Check out this tool that tells you if your passwords are already floating around the web.
Businesses are willing to spend large amounts of resources on storing their data (whether it’s on-site, cloud, or hybrid), and to safeguard it with firewalls and other security measures. As processes continue to become more automated, manufacturers will continue to digitize in Industry 4.0. Nowadays, “data is money”. Post a comment below to let us know what your main tech goal is for 2020!