Manufacturers Are Turning To Data Analytics More Frequently

By Ally Kutz, contributing writer

LNS Research shared data collected from its ongoing Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) survey. The survey cites analytics applications as key in creating a new frontier for progress in manufacturing business performance.

In the MOM survey, more than 500 respondents were asked to rank the software used in their organization by maturity, with analytics being the second least mature response (behind safety and risk management) with responses totaling more than 18 percent.

According to LNS Research performed in conjunction with MESA International, although the use of analytics in manufacturing is still maturing, roughly 65 percent of manufacturing operations managers are engaging in business and manufacturing metrics more frequently

As use of analytics increases and many systems are already in place that can support analytics technologies, however, challenges still exist. Moving analytic engines to the cloud and the combination of traditional and Internet of Things architectures both pose issues related to analytics.

LNS Research also addresses the issue of how usable analytics solutions are for manufacturers to use: “Technology providers are actively working on making advanced analytics ever easier to use by both sophisticated and casual users. If these new generation analytics technologies are to be more readily adopted, data scientists should not have to be a requirement for manufacturing organizations to be successful.”

LNS Research offers a free download: “Analytics — The New Frontier in Manufacturing Operations and Business Performance.”