Manufacturing companies have a massive amount of data available at their disposal. With data constantly being generated from devices, equipment, tools, systems, supplier and customer interactions, and more, there is a pressing need to invest in big data systems that unearth crucial insight into operations and performance. 

However, only a few have implemented solutions that enable them to make sense of these massive amounts of data. And even fewer companies are able to surrender power in the hands of operators and engineers to monitor their production in real-time. 

Read on to learn why big data, although critical, is a big problem for manufacturing companies, and what benefits a low-code/no-code platform brings. 

Big data is extremely vital for companies operating in today’s extremely complex manufacturing environment  

Manufacturing companies are facing many challenges across their production floors: from poorly functioning equipment to process inefficiencies, low inventory levels to poor visibility and transparency. 

If these companies develop the ability to analyze the growing volumes of data and take necessary steps will enable them to mitigate the burgeoning risks. Big data-enabled real-time production monitoring can enable companies to get accurate real-time visibility to manufacturing operations, assets, and parts, leading to improved productivity and effectiveness.  

Big data analytics will help measure and improve OEE, increase throughput, and optimize asset utilization. They can also improve quality, enable continuous improvement cycles, and reduce the cost of quality. Today’s manufacturers should enable data collection from siloed legacy systems and aggregate them in a single location – providing improved transparency and visibility into processes, employees, performance and equipment. 

But embracing big data and implementing it across the enterprise is not as easy as it seems 

Enabling real-time monitoring across the manufacturing ecosystem is a great way to uncover challenges & opportunities to make decisions that make the most business sense. But embracing big data and implementing it across the enterprise can get extremely overwhelming, as a number of objectives have to be achieved: 

  • How do you allow operators and engineers to configure their own displays according to their own needs and processes?
  • How do you gather data from multiple sources (including legacy) into a single dashboard?
  • How do you present data into easy-to-understand and interactive dashboards to allow slicing and dicing of data?
  • How do you enable proactive fault detection, warnings and enable notifications to the operators for them to take actions before the actual fault occurs?
  • How do you facilitate real-time alerts and notifications and deliver them to the respective stakeholders?
A low-code/no-code platform can be the solution 

Implementing a modern and innovative low-code/no-code platform is a great way to overcome the above challenges. Not only does such a platform deliver all the big data capabilities you need to enhance your processes; it also allows you to customize and configure it based on individual needs and preferences – so you can enjoy tangible value across your business. 

A low-code/no-code platform can connect your machines, people, and processes, and unlock real-time data-driven capabilities across your shop floor and allow users to develop customized and tailored dashboards and reports – without any coding and without depending on your IT department. 

From real-time production monitoring to facility monitoring, CO2 monitoring to electrical power monitoring – a modern platform can help in turning data into actionable insights, so you can improve productivity, enhance efficiency, boost safety, and reduce costs. 

Using such a platform, you can: 

  • Get accurate real-time visibility into manufacturing operations, assets, and parts 
  • Enable consistent and real-time data collection, data processing, alerting, notifications, dashboards, and analytics
  • Combine industry insights and customer inputs and produce real-world solutions faster, and with low risk
  • Enjoy high levels of scalability and flexibility – and easily meet the fluctuating demands of your business 
  • Enable proactive monitoring of equipment and predict asset failure in time 
  • Incrementally deploy big data across locations, servers, and timeframes
  • Enable seamless multi-system integration to aggregate and analyze data from across the enterprise 
  • Improve analysis of machine cycles and pave the way for better cycle time performance – thus optimizing scheduling activities 
  • Make the most of online reports and trend charts, assess the health of machines via easy-to-understand digital twins, and make informed decisions at various stages of the production process

Almost every manufacturer today is looking to accelerate digital transformation efforts and bring overall Industry 4.0 investment and timeframe lower. However, a critical missing link is big data, which, when not utilized properly, can lead to unfavorable outcomes. Although big data holds several promises in the manufacturing sector, not many are able to exploit the technology and its benefits. 

Among the many reasons for not-so-adequate data utilization in the manufacturing sector, lack of adequate technical skills at the shop floor, absence of real-time insights, and the inability of current systems to deliver intuitive, user-friendly, and customizable dashboards top the list. 

To overcome these day-to-day challenges, investing in a state-of-the-art, low-code/ no-code platform is a great way to unearth the insights you need. Teams across departments can easily leverage such a platform to analyze data, build reports, customize dashboards and views – and make favorable, data-driven decisions.