How industries can work smarter – using visualizations

At many industrial companies, a frustrating feeling is growing that "surely we should be able to do a lot more with the data?".

And the answer, of course, is yes. Processes can be improved, machines can be utilized more optimally, machine failures detected earlier (before they cause major interruptions in production), human resources can become more efficient and the right decisions can be made more quickly, both on a strategic and operational level. But how do you get there?

Overview of the data

– "An initial challenge that many industrial companies face is that they lack an overview of their data based on what benefits it can provide, and what it takes to move forward," says Andreas Thore, researcher at RISE.

He helps industries in the development of solutions at the crossroads of IoT, cloud services and visualization of data.

– "With tools to visualize large amounts of data, you can gain awareness of what can be done with the data without even knowing what you are looking for. The value that can be extracted from the data can be discovered with various online tools for visualization. These are things that we help evaluate, so that you can find the tools you need for data storage or data processing. Just Microsoft Azure provides hundreds of different services to choose from.

Visualization shows the potential

When relevant data is visualized – in the form of anything from trend lines to warning indicators – it often becomes apparent to the management team, line managers and production staff alike, which data can help in the development of the business going forward.

– "We often hear comments like, 'So we can only see what happened last week? That's not good. We need to know how things are right now', or 'If our supplier provides us with data A and B, we would be able to track X, and then we could save time on Y'."

Just as a car indicates when it's time to change oil, how much fuel is left or the mileage you're getting, there's a lot to be gained from creating corresponding dashboards, tailored to different roles in a business, where sensors from machines, for example, share real-time data and provide important insight in supporting both prompt operational decisions and long-term strategic decisions.

– "In this way, you quickly become aware of abnormalities and can act before problems arise. There is often a need to divide the machine into smaller components, such as with IoT, to collect data from each part, every second or half-second. For some companies and some machines, it may be enough with once an hour or once a day."

Facilitates collaboration

Another big advantage comes when data can be visualized from different devices, both from production plants and suppliers. It can help identify and address production challenges and optimize flows.

– "Visualizations make it easier for everyone to understand needs and challenges. Without making the data visually transparent, it becomes very difficult to identify which data is useful.

– "Visualizations make it easy to see the effects of measures taken in production."