THE RISE OF INDUSTRY 4.0 machines , applications , people and plants across the manufacturing function and the wider enterprise , can bring . To pull together a business case , you have to understand the size of the opportunity and how it can be realised . To do this , you first need to quantify the benefits and opportunities available through the use of manufacturing , operational management , product lifecycle and advanced analytics technology and how they integrate with the wider business .
With the deployment of our own manufacturing performance management operational intelligence systems , for example , we have seen increases in productivity on the shop floor in the order of 10-30 percent , much of which comes from the ability to make better , more informed decisions based on access to the right shop floor information in real time . Again , it is all about effective use of data and using integration to achieve a 360 ° view .
This is not just a future vision . It is an operating model that is bringing real benefits to real businesses today . The productivity gains , reduction in waste and increased sustainability realised by the approach are already driving down operational costs and improving profitability of many businesses .
But the real gains come from looking at processes holistically . Often improvement initiatives consider operational processes in isolation when much more substantial benefits can be achieved when the whole process is considered end to end . By taking this approach , you often uncover small changes which cost little to implement but bring huge benefits for the business as a whole . This increases confidence and helps change programmes gain momentum . Every manufacturing company is focused on the pursuit of sustainable , effective and agile operations . Over the next decade , those companies that come out on top will be those who understand the value of data and its integration across function , department , processes and people . Only integration , when used in this way , can deliver the actionable intelligence needed for enterprisewide collaboration and only integration can help support a holistic end to end view that delivers the reduced time to market and greater flexibility required to satisfy customer demand .
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