Data has been described as the “new oil” and is fast becoming a business-critical part of every manufacturing organisation, but how do you make the best use of data once you have collected it.
The possibilities for collecting big data are seemingly limitless in the manufacturing world, with sensors becoming ever cheaper, more reliable and smaller than ever before manufacturers can measure every aspect of their business if they so want.
Cloud storage also means that there is no limit on the amount of data that a company can collect and also means security is guaranteed, but what do you do with all of this data?
Gaining value from the data that is collected is the whole point of collecting data, to give you insights in to your business that can either create new value or help eliminate unnecessary wastes.
A recent study has shown that unplanned downtime costs the UK manufacturers £180bn a year. The research also shows that 3% of all working days are lost annually in manufacturing due to machine downtime, which equates to 49 hours of work.
If the UK is to establish itself as a leading industrial nation then this kind of downtime has to be eliminated in order for manufacturers to thrive on the ever-more competitive global stage.
This is where Big Data comes in. By keeping data on machines, manufacturers can analyse it and discover patterns in behaviours or identify factors that are impacting the performance of their asset.
Microsoft Dynamics offers manufacturers the opportunity to gain greater insight in to their business in order to make sure they can predict and plan any downtime that needs to be done. Dynamics is scalable and can give provide data in real time, which gives organisations the flexibility and agility necessary to react to any kind of issue that there might be.