Industry 4.0 is essentially about harnessing the connections in the latest digital automations, manufacturing technologies, and the data we can gather from these to make all these systems work better together and produce better results.
How Data Analysis Can Help Improve Manufacturing Processes
Data, in its purest form, is honest. It’s simply numbers or other information, delivered without bias. How manufacturers use that data is what makes the difference in optimizing or not. That’s where data analysis comes in. By gathering data before you make a change, you can run models that predict how a change will impact a process. Comparisons of the data before and after can even be made by utilizing small test runs of a change before a full upgrade is implemented.
What About the Supply Chain?
In addition to Industry 4.0 data having a positive impact on manufacturing processes, it can also help improve the supply chain. Manufacturers can measure critical components during the intake and delivery processes. This produces data that can be analyzed to find a baseline before running predictive models which can help uncover delays or areas that can be improved.
Centralize Your Data
Insights that this data provides cannot be utilized unless it can be seen. The best way to make sure this happens is to choose a central repository for your data that is accessible to key systems and people. Manufacturers would also do well to assess the scalability and lifecycle of their current storage systems. Local databases may seem like a good idea, but often need to be maintained and upgraded manually. They are also less likely to be easily scalable. That’s where cloud storage systems come in. Cloud storage systems are built with scalability in mind and are setup with redundant storage to protect data.
Data Drives Optimization
Implementations of Industry 4.0 networks have come a long way since they first arrived on the scene. It’s about more than just connecting all your technologies. It’s about using the data that’s collected to drive insights that empower smart decisions about optimization.
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