From Big Data to practical value in the plant
We live in the era of Big Data, in which it is even said that data is like the oil of the 21st century. But it seems tremendously complicated to us, something that we feel distant from and that is only within the reach of great experts. Many people believe that their company is not ready to enter this world, but is it?
Are you familiar with the case of Google, in which by analyzing 50 million search terms they were able to quickly predict the outbreak of a new virus in 2009? Or the case of automotive companies such as Mercedes, which solved the prediction of testing time in highly customized cars through a contest on Kaggle?
These examples may seem distant and inaccessible, based on the complex work of large IT teams looking for innovative solutions. But by also applying the study of Big Data we find the case of a coffee shop in Edinburgh that, through an easy analysis of cash register data, is able to detect off-peak hours and purchase patterns, repositioning the product and changing the opening hours according to the results, obtaining a great positive impact on the income statement.
So how can we take advantage of it in quality, can we do like the cafeteria and make small, big improvements? The answer is undoubtedly YES, and without the need to do anything very different from what we are probably already doing. It is simply a matter of taking advantage of it in the best possible way.
Where to start?
First of all, we need to ask ourselves questions. We need to define what we want to know, and then start looking for the answers and make the right decisions. Doing a brief analysis, we see that there are already many processes and moments in which quality data is collected, even before production starts, and in different departments. These processes mostly collect data on paper and excel.
Quick examples to maximize results
Once we know what data we have and how to get it, we only need to implement a digital solution such as Kapture.io that will allow us to digitize little by little those processes that we consider key and evaluate the return. Some applications that will show us results quickly:
- Implementing cosmetic cosmetic control in an EOL we will know the value of answering in real time questions such as: which areas have more defects, which defects occur frequently, which defects are more severe, etc.
- Creating digital control patterns in some process with a recycled computer that we have in the plant and/or measuring through bluetooth instruments and uploading the data automatically to Kapture.io, we will get the operators to be more informed, the data will be more “correct” and traceable, and we will also be able to make a quick multidimensional analysis of date, attributes, sample status, daily activity.
And this is just the beginning of the multiple advantages that we will obtain by using a solution like Kapture.io. Let’s leave for other chapters aspects such as knowing that by digitizing processes such as audits, control tools or incident management we can observe a great positive economic impact with very little effort.
