Manufacturing companies lose around $208 million yearly due to downtime. Unfortunately, this is just one of many challenges that manufacturers face in today’s competitive environment.
As a result, most manufacturers are now using technological advancements to address prevalent challenges. Manufacturing business intelligence is one of the latest technological advancements businesses are using to save costs and enhance efficiency.
But how does business intelligence fit into the puzzle of complex and intricate manufacturing processes? This blog will address this question among many others so, let’s dive in!
Let’s Understand Business Intelligence (BI) First
Business Intelligence (BI) is a relatively new technological process of evaluating raw data from multiple sources to generate valuable insights. This technology is highly beneficial for all businesses and organisations with complex and intricate processes.
Business intelligence helps businesses make the most of available business data and fosters more informed decision-making. As data is becoming more accessible and abundant it is only a matter of time before most businesses start leveraging the potential of this technology. This technology application can help businesses get a competitive edge and foster better leadership development.
Why Should Manufacturers Use Business Intelligence (BI)?
Data is one of the most important ingredients of any successful manufacturing business. This data-intensive industry offers ample data from supply chain management, shopping, accounting, and the list goes on. Business intelligence allows these businesses to make the most of this data and make informed decisions to foster business growth.
Manufacturing business intelligence plays a very important role in helping manufacturers analyse all the essential data to get a comprehensive overview of business operations. These data-driven insights can even help get you a more detailed overview of areas that could benefit from further enhancements. But most importantly, this technology application can help lower overall operational and administration costs for better profitability.
Ways Manufacturers Can Use Business Intelligence
As technology evolves, manufacturers have always leveraged the latest innovations to foster more sustainable business growth. Similarly, using business intelligence can help manufacturers simplify many complex problems. Some of the best ways to use business intelligence in manufacturing include:
- Inventory Control: Manufacturers can leverage the potential of business intelligence to facilitate effective inventory tracking and ensure enhanced management. This is a very important requirement for manufacturers since it helps them ensure uninterrupted production without any shortage of raw materials. They can use this technology to replenish stock levels on time for seamless operations.
- Product Scheduling: Another great use of business intelligence in manufacturing is effective product scheduling. This technology helps them analyse the overall capacity of machines, employees, workstations, and departments to evaluate the efficiency of all processes. Manufacturers can even use business intelligence to determine and eliminate bottlenecks with better scheduling.
- Financial Management: Financial management is one of the most important aspects of any business but even more important in the case of manufacturing businesses. Using business intelligence can help eliminate most of the hassles from financial management. For instance, manufacturers can use the technology to create budgets that consider every relevant element such as sales, production, shipment, fulfilment, and operations. This can even help manufacturers track sales across different locations and ensure better money management with a focus on leadership development.
- Supply Chain Management: Supply chain management is one of the most challenging and demanding operations for manufacturers. Business intelligence can do an excellent job of simplifying the entire ordeal and making manufacturers more profitable. One can use the technology to evaluate the performance of suppliers regularly to negotiate prices, maintain high-quality standards, ensure timely delivery, and monitor supply chain management employees to choose the ideal candidate for effective manufacturing leadership development.
