Data-driven operations key to future manufacturing

Data-driven operations are going to play a key role in the future of manufacturing where it will drive productivity, new customer experience and societal and environmental impact, according to a new report of the World Economic Forum.

The report titled "Data Excellence: Transforming Manufacturing and Supply Systems", released on Friday, presents the challenges for manufacturers and provides the steps to overcome them.

The report said, in the near future, manufacturing companies will collaborate in hyperconnected value networks in which data-and-analytics applications will play an important role.

According to the report, nearly three-quarters of 1,300 surveyed manufacturing executives consider advanced analytics to be critical for success and more important today than three years ago. However, only a few companies capture the full value that data and analytics can unlock to address manufacturers' most pressing challenges.

Less than 20% of surveyed participants prioritise advanced analytics to promote either short-term cost reductions or longer-term structural cost improvements. Only 39% have managed to scale data-driven use cases beyond the production process of a single product and thus achieve a clearly positive business case.

Surveyed manufacturers cited various challenges that impeded their efforts to further scale and implement data-and-analytics solutions within their plants and across networks including the struggle to prioritise the right value-adding use cases from a broad range of applications.

This study by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), features insights from a unique community of 40+ manufacturing organisations and leading academics and public sector representatives.

"These findings will help accelerate our journey to support companies in devising a path forward to reach the next level of data-based manufacturing excellence, build trust among manufacturing, suppliers and customers, and unlock new value through the development of new data-driven ecosystems," said Francisco Betti, head of Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Production at the World Economic Forum.