Using Data Analytics to Support Operational Excellence written by Meighan Heard, Executive Director, Commercial and Corporate, Mitsubishi Electric Australia
A lot has been written about the importance of having reliable information that can be measured to help us make the right decisions. Perhaps the most famous quote of them all is Peter Drucker’s statement that ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’.
Yet collecting the data itself is not enough. If this is our only focus, we can quickly end up in a world of data overload where we have an enormous amount of data but no easy means of interpreting that data into information to achieve our purpose.
It is what we can do with our data that makes a difference. Used wisely, this can help us meet our objectives and manage/improve our operations and overall company results. Steven Rice puts this nicely in this well known quote: “I believe that Data will set you free. At the end of the day, it’s all about how you turn those pieces of information into insights that will improve your business.”
Analytics software solutions transform large amounts of real-time data (such as that from manufacturing or facility operations) into actionable intelligence. The information obtained from these analytical tools can be used to drive improvements in productivity, efficiency, quality and sustainability.
When this is taken to the enterprise level, the information obtained can be applied to solve common business challenges. For example, expert systems and machine learning can be applied to Big Data, leading to visualization and reporting solutions for energy optimization, fault detection and diagnostics, predictive maintenance, SPC quality control, and equipment efficiency.
Mitsubishi Electric provides technology, systems and software to help companies collect data, analyse that data and drive helpful insights into their operations and activities. At an enterprise level, the products and solutions provided by ICONICS empowers companies to leverage their information so as to achieve immediate benefits for any facility.
ICONICS analytics software tools organize critical operating information with a user-definable, ISA-95-compatible, asset-based network for analysis, visualization and operations. A wide variety of in-built analytical functions enable users to take the relevant information and, if desired, analyse it further with their own calculations. Rich, dynamic dashboards convey concise, role-based information for any manufacturing, industrial or automation manager.
These products and solutions are geared to support manufacturers in their quest to increase productivity and quality, reduce downtime, better understand energy use and diagnose fault symptoms and causes. This is delivered through easy to deploy tools for:
(a) Predictive/Preventive Maintenance
(b) Statistical Process Control (SPC)
(c) OEE and KPI analysis
(d) Alarm Management reporting
(e) Connected field services
(f) Use of remote field devices via IoT to connect factory operations
Mitsubishi Electric enhances the ICONICS solution by providing advanced machine learning AI models based on real-time, historical data that can be utilised alongside the skills of a qualified and experienced workforce. It also provides 3D simulation modelling to assist manufacturers in the design and structing of their manufacturing facilities to achieve efficient and effective operations.
Together these initiatives can help companies develop strong digital, advanced and smart manufacturing capabilities to support better decision making for operational excellence.
Further Reading:
https://iconics.com/Solutions/Analytics
https://www.mitsubishielectric.com/fa/exhibitions/2022/iifes2022/solutionviewer/mailab/