Using Manufacturing Analytics to Improve Cost Efficiencies
The ability to leverage manufacturing analytics for optimized production volumes, increased efficiency, and enhanced cost savings is no longer a nice-to-have add-on to current capabilities but a strategic imperative for manufacturers in order remain competitive and profitable in the current business and economic climate. As manufacturers increasingly feel pressures to their margins and bottom line, manufacturing analytics can not only alleviate these pressures but unlock new avenues to growth.
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A large tobacco manufacturer sought Clarkston’s expertise in increasing visibility into their manufacturing processes, specifically examining yield and loss. Clarkston’s data and analytics team developed repeatable methods of study and conducted a deep analysis of different data sources, including quality data, equipment sensor data, manual weight measurements, and machine counters.
The baseline yield and loss measurements positioned the manufacturer to track trends over time and understand the impacts of future equipment or process improvements at a high level of detail. The collection and analysis of this data enabled Clarkston to create a model to track efficiency of each of their manufacturing machines. Additionally, Clarkston developed an interactive dashboard with several new industry-supported metrics of success to catalog and evaluate on-going performance. The new level of visibility has given the manufacturer the tools to shift toward more data-driven, strategic decision support. As a result of the project, the manufacturing business is now well-positioned to realize further cost savings, improved efficiencies, and more strategic decision-making capabilities now and in the future.
For manufacturers, an all-encompassing view and understanding of the manufacturing processes is crucial in order to optimize production volumes and efficiency. Failing to use data to drive understanding can leave companies unknowingly in the dark about opportunities for improving performance. Manufacturing analytics represent an untapped area of opportunity for growth and efficiency for most manufacturers today.
