Business Intelligence for Manufacturing: Unlocking Intelligent Data
According to The McKinsey Group, the manufacturing industry generates more data than any other, producing 1.9 petabytes annually. Within this enormous amount of data, there are plenty opportunities that can be unlocked using business intelligence.
So, as the world of data and intelligence evolves rapidly, in this article, we look at:
The challenges faced by the manufacturing industry.
Business intelligence, a solution to these challenges.
Enhancing manufacturing with Naviloq.
The challenges the manufacturing industry faces without business intelligence
Despite being the vertical producing the most data, only 39% of manufacturing executives reported that they have successfully scaled data-driven use cases, according to a 2021 study by the World Economic Forum.
As businesses begin to grow and adapt to the new realms of technology, many in the manufacturing industry are being left behind. It’s no secret that the manufacturing industry was one of the hardest hit in the last decade, with a challenging global economy creating higher production costs, increased production times and supply shortages. Secondly, in the latter half of the decade, the industry faced additional challenges, such as further supply issues caused by the Red Sea crisis and the much reported, Suez Canal Obstruction, with detrimental effects.
As a result, the industry continues to face the challenges of inefficient management, staffing issues, inflated costs, and external pressures, such as changing market trends, ever-changing customer preferences and supply chain disruptions, many of which challenges have an intelligent solution. However, without implementing a BI solution, many find that the following factors constrain their ability to compete and grow effectively:
Lack of a centralized place to access and store data, ready for forecasting and planning.
Overspending financially and time wise on manually creating and verifying reports such as production reports for forecasting and target setting.
Limited or a lack of collaboration solutions, hindering informed decision-making.
Inability to react efficiently without reliable data.
As a result of these challenges, the industry as now opted for a more reliable method of contingency planning and growth. In the face of adversity, manufacturers are seeking an intelligent tool that provides real-time data for real-time strategic decision making. According to Forbes, Manufacturing has the highest Cloud BI adoption rate at 58%., meaning the answers are in the results – Business Intelligence is working for this industry.
How business intelligence solves manufacturing-associated problems
Data is important to any business in any industry, but the data must be relevant, reliable and, of course, accurate. In the manufacturing industry, real-time data is essential since production and manufacturing processes operate on a real-time basis. Changes made on a production line, for example, are most often immediate, altering the production process and affecting the final product.
According to Forbes, 89% of manufacturers with analytics and BI initiatives view them as highly successful, surpassing those in similar industries. That’s why it is essential that manufacturers take advantage of business intelligence to succeed in this competitive industry.
Here are just a few of the key roles that Business Intelligence (BI) plays in the manufacturing industry:
End to end supply chain visibility
A better visibility of the supply chain enhances decision making and helps to identify potential bottlenecks in the process, keeping production lines running efficiently. Ensuring transparency at every stage, from procurement to delivery, is vital for an optimized manufacturing lifecycle.
Operational efficiency
Through data analysis, BI tools enable a smarter way of monitoring and analyzing the day-to-day manufacturing functions, meaning that actions can be made to optimise resources, reduce waste and in the long term, generate higher profitability.
Cost control
BI supports manufacturing companies in managing expenses associated with their high raw material and productions costs. This helps to pinpoint areas where costs can be reduced which is identified through BI’s ability to track and analyse project costs.
Inventory & quality control
BI tools help to identify when quality falls below the specified standard by tracking return rates and the volume of defective products alongside customer satisfaction rates. Investing in this, helps to improve overall quality and ensures compliance with manufacturing standards.
Key Manufacturing KPI’s Supported by Business Intelligence
When effectively monitored, KPI’s help identify improvement opportunities, streamline operations, and drive success. However, on the other hand, if not monitored correctly, they can negatively impact the business, leading to operational inefficiencies, quality issues, and even poor decision-making.
That's why Naviloq provides solutions for each of the following key performance measurements across your business, helping to streamline operations and ensure that all critical areas drive success.
Efficiency and productivity
Compare pre-calculated values of work orders with the actual results to spot discrepancies and enhance accuracy.
Track output per full-time employee (FTE), including volume and finished goods, to evaluate workforce efficiency and production capacity.
Monitor direct hours spent on each work order to optimize labour allocation and enhance overall productivity.
Quality
Track scrapped items and waste to reduce costs, helping to improve quality control and efficiency.
Service levels
Monitor dispatch dates and flag up late orders to ensure timely delivery and keep service high.
Profitability and cost allocation
Implement cost allocation methods and activity-based costing to get more visibility into profitability by tying costs to specific activities and products.
Order book development
Manage and track your order book and plan workloads to help meet demand and efficiency.
Planning & scenario modelling
Use weekly, monthly, and quarterly planning, with scenario modelling, to help adapt to any changes in the market etc.
Why choose Naviloq to as your Manufacturing Business Intelligence platform?
Naviloq provides a comprehensive, future-flexible solution that supports successful and intelligent growth.
Naviloq acts as a centralized hub for all data by consolidating data from various sources to provide seamless access to everything in one convenient place - a Data Warehouse.
Provides easy-to-view critical data through a no-code, flexible reporting platform for financial and other business operations in a customizable, flexible, reporting Dashboard.
Naviloq offers collaboration through sharing insights in group conversations and providing built-in Collaboration tools for instant discussions on the same datasets.
Naviloq enables multiple stakeholders to collaborate with cloud-based technology and customizable Planning templates to improve efficiency. Integrations with 100+ business systems, including NetSuite, also ensure regular data refreshes.
Get in touch
Naviloq is the one stop shop for all your business intelligence and planning needs. To learn more about how you can make the most of your NetSuite data, get in touch today!