You look and do not see
Mark T. Hoske -- Control Engineering, 10/1/2002
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Do you sometimes get a feeling that you're looking at your process but cannot really see what's going on?
Internet technologies have enabled software tools that allow greater insight into how the process, manufacturing line, or batch interacts with other areas of enterprise; how it aligns with business goals; and how it fits, at any moment with other elements in the interconnected supply chain.
Today's manufacturing challenges are many-global competition; price, cost, and time-to-market pressures; customer needs; customization pressure; outsourcing; quality and efficiency; and need to improve and connect business processes.
Many software tools aim to improve manufacturing productivity. Raw data can easily overwhelm users without providing the insight needed to make decisions to improve the plant or enterprise. Rather than simply collecting and viewing historical information, there's a need to gather real-time data from many sources in the plant; combine and analyze it; and turn it into useful information, personalized for individual users.
A relatively new class of software shows key performance indicators for manufacturing, design, sales, logistics, or whatever needs monitoring. These tools, like a human-machine interface on steroids, can be rapidly customized to fit users' needs and changing business goals.
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