Why is Big Data the core of Industry 4.0 Operational Excellence?

Industry 4.0 is the fusion of the real world with the virtual world. This digital revolution is marked by technology that takes advantage of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to nurture machine learning systems. Manufacturers in today's market seek to achieve business intelligence through data collection, analysis, and sharing across all key functional domains in order to achieve productive excellence.

How does Big Data work in Industry 4.0?

The interconnection between systems and computers and the ability to analyze large amounts of data have made possible the existence of intelligent machines that can make informed decisions without any humans involved. The Internet of Things ( IoT ) has been connecting elements for many years, but the value extracted from data through Big Data has taken the term to a new level: The Internet of Systems.

Big Data use cases in Factories 4.0

The amount of information that today's IoT and manufacturing systems produce must be translated into actionable ideas. For this reason, Big Data classifies the information collected and draws relevant conclusions that help improve company operations in the following ways:

• Warehouse process improvement: Thanks to sensors and portable devices, companies can improve operational efficiency by detecting human errors, making quality controls and showing optimal production or assembly routes.

• Elimination of bottlenecks: Big Data identifies the variables that may affect performance, at no additional cost, guiding manufacturers in identifying the problem.

• Prediction demand: More accurate and meaningful predictions thanks to the visualization of activity through internal analysis (customer preferences) and external (trends and external events) beyond historical data. This allows the company to modify / optimize its product portfolio.

• Predictive maintenance: Sensors fed by data identify possible failures in the operation of machinery before it becomes a breakdown, by identifying breaks in patterns. The system sends an alert to the team to react in time.

These are just some of the benefits of Big Data analysis in production systems, but there are many more; enhanced security , load optimization , supply chain management , non-conformance analysis, etc.

Big Data and business strategy

Big Data analysis provides valuable information on key elements such as markets or business directions, identifying which potentially will generate the highest profits. It is essential in making strategic decisions such as expansion and development plans or financial analysis. It has therefore become an indispensable source for the industrial sector in two main aspects:

Hyperconnected context

A very high and increasing percentage of business activities enter or are related to the Internet. This increases the amount of data recorded and stored by companies, both online and offline, to exponential levels, which is a challenge and difficulty for businesses to manage and analyze this data.

Although industrial companies years ago lived exclusively in delimited geographic areas and had a constant and highly localized demand, now they must coexist and coexist with many other companies in a context where physical barriers do not exist.

In this new context, information is power, but only if it is used correctly.

If a company chooses not to implement Big Data, it will be left behind and lose all competitive advantage to its competitors, destined not to survive. If a company chooses to implement Big Data in a complementary way and without a strategy, it will have spent time and money to finish first. But if a company manages to internalize its Big Data strategy and connect its processes, it will have infinite more possibilities of success in the 4.0 environment.

Smart factories

The Big Data helps integrate previously isolated systems for companies to get a comprehensive view of manufacturing processes. In addition, it automates the collection and analysis of data, facilitating a better understanding of the state of each of the systems, together and separately.

The applicability of Big Data also lies in the business strategies directly involved in manufacturing, giving rise to systems such as:

• Enterprise resource planning

• Supplier relationship management systems

• Product life cycle management systems

• More responsible systems with the environment

The information is analyzed in three layers of perspectives that include data from the past, present and future, which allows to obtain a complete vision that includes reasoning about causalities and projections for the future.

This data-driven, integrated supply chain management method, while increasing value and efficiency in the manufacturing process, helps reduce inventory and capital requirements in the medium to long term.

What would Industry 4.0 be without Big Data?

Modern factories are becoming increasingly complex and interconnected, creating new challenges that automation, driven by Big Data, can address. Big data from the IoT and modern IT systems has enabled smart factories to rapidly skyrocket their efficiency and reap significant benefits in increasing uptime, speeding up production, and reducing errors.

The possibilities of interconnection, facilitated by the IoT , have been creating very large and complex information networks. Without Big Data, 4.0 technologies would not have been able to decipher and extract value from all that information in order to learn, generate predictive analysis patterns and function autonomously and in such a precise way. Therefore, without Big Data, Industry 4.0 could not have existed, nor could the intelligent technologies that comprise it.

The ENERGYSAVER operations platform and its advanced technology system allow you to apply Big Data and AI in an industrial environment. Our experts will guide you through the entire process from acquisition to data exploitation, offering you a structured Big Data platform that enables data scientists to apply technologies such as AI and Machine Learning in line with your company's strategy. Speak with us today.