Data data everywhere but not a drop of value

Abstract: Many businesses are collecting huge volumes of data, whether it’s business transactions, process quality or real-time streamed machine data. But, without suitable data management and control processes, how can you manage, analyse and convert data into value for your business?

Dr Aiden Lockwood and Richard Lanyon-Hogg from the University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), discuss starting the journey to extract value from your data.

Akin to the old watery proverb, imagine floating around on a vast ocean of data unable to drink any due to its unpalatable condition. There are huge amounts of the stuff, as far as the eye can see, but none of it is of any use to you in your current situation. So, what can you do to convert it into something that will quench your thirst for innovation and to keep your business buoyant?

The volume of data generated everyday across the globe is increasing at a bewildering pace (it roughly doubles every 18 months). At the same time, technology companies are working increasingly hard to maintain and improve services for end users, making data storage cheaper, availability better and accessibility simpler. A decade ago, the cost of storage was around $0.75/Gb, enough for about 18 hours of music. Today the cost has reduced to around $0.007/Gb, and it's secured in the cloud.

This increasing availability of data is helping make decision making and computer algorithms smarter. Google Maps, for example, can now predict how long a journey may take based on typical traffic conditions based on the day of the week and time, as well as real-time data from millions of devices across the globe updating constantly with new information about traffic conditions. What Google is doing here is organising, or putting into context, huge volumes of historic and streamed real-time data. So what’s stopping you from doing the same?

A recent Economist report showed us that the five largest social media giants (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook) generated $25bn of net profit from the sale of data. Yet the data on which this value is based was given to them for free by their users, i.e. the social media giants didn’t generate it, they didn’t manufacture a product. Instead, they gather data and then extract value from it.

Which direction should I row?

A good starting point is to know what you have. It may be that you are running business systems such are ERP, MES and PLM software; or that your operations are completely controlled from an Excel Spreadsheet; or even that the information is in someone’s head. The only real difference is scale. How can sporadic data in many often uncontrolled or unorganised silos be brought together and value created?

Secondly, You need to decide what you want to do with the data that you collect. Perhaps it’s to run a more efficient operation. Or perhaps you have customers who request specific information related to your product which may involve a costly process to aggregate the required information. You may even want to coordinate your suppliers to minimise the volume of stock held in your organisation. Knowing what is possible outside your business is often the biggest challenge.

So how do I make the water potable?

Creating structure from chaos is a prerequisite to embracing industrial digitalisation. Knowing what you have, and putting it into a structure that is logical, governed and controlled so you can potentially expose various elements of it to other organisations automatically is hugely valuable. This can be done using what is known as a Data or Information Architecture. There are other ways to organise and structure your data such as using Design Thinking as a tool to unravel what data you have and decide what you’d like to do with it. However, be aware that a methodology that may have worked for one may not be as suitable for another.

If an organisation was to document all its many threads of data (digital and paper format) would it look like the above…. A cat’s hairball; But that begs the question, what does utopia look like?

To further answer the question means understanding how your business operates, and how you perceive it operating in the future. These are your ‘business vision’, ‘business policies’ and ‘business rules’. Having rules around what and how you use your data and information is key to the future of manufacturing in the UK. As the nation becomes increasingly digitalized and connected, exchanging data between organisations becomes increasingly important and valuable for the sustainability of your business.

So how does 4IR help?

Industrial Digitalisation is a broad term but in general means utilising digital technologies in support of operations and manufacturing processes. Turning sensor data from machines into information about utilisation and productivity is obviously valuable for production planning and internal scheduling, but suddenly it also has the value of being able to offer more flexibility to your customer base through just-in-time manufacturing, and flexible capacity for increasing you throughput. If you don’t know what you have how can you possible make it better?

Having data exchanges with your suppliers enables you to meet your customers order, reduce inventory costs and the need for storage space that could be better used by higher valued activities. You could streamline your distribution and logistics suppliers, thus reducing costs and providing customers with improved service.

Is the water safe to drink now?

The benefits of embracing digitalisation far outweigh any negatives, including implementation costs or skills shortages. Both these can be overcome at any scale especially though the vast and increasing number of companies offering as-a-service solutions connecting and transforming your data into something of increased value which can be shared and linked to your supplier and customer chains.