With the current pressure on the workforce, the challenges related to supply delays and the fluctuating cost of materials, turbulence generated at the operations level has become recurrent. For the team to remain efficient and productive, decisions from all employees, regardless of their position, must be made immediately to adjust actions according to events. In this context, the integration of business intelligence (BI) within your company has become an essential solution, as each employee benefits from access to the best available information to make the best decisions. Let’s take a look at how to use business intelligence in your company.
What is Business Intelligence ?
Business intelligence, also known as BI, is a set of strategies, tools and processes that allows an organization to transform its internal and external data into useful management information for decision making and the discovery of new opportunities. The goal of business intelligence is not to accumulate data, but to enable you to produce management information that will inform your teams so they can make the right decisions at the right time. With well-structured data, decision making becomes easier.
How can BI help my company ?
Business intelligence is becoming an essential strategy because it allows managers to have a clear view of the current state of things: supplier lead times, production status, warehouse inventory, quality data, etc. Complementing existing ERP or logistics systems, BI tools provide access to a common platform that offers a clear overview to optimize operations and decision making.
In today’s ever-changing environment, BI tools allow companies to be more flexible and adaptable to constant change. Once the tools are in place, executives can easily access the various predefined dashboards according to their needs and bring the data to life. A business intelligence project must first and foremost be considered on a company-wide scale and not only from an operational point of view. We are talking about an intelligent company and not just an intelligent factory.
How to visualize and organize your data ?
- Offer adapted dashboards: once the key elements have been identified and the data warehouse has been built, it is now time to create dashboards adapted to the users and their needs. Optimization and ease of use of the dashboards are key to their acceptance by the end users. The needs of a manager are not the same as those of a floor supervisor!
- Build your dashboard: choosing the right visualization for the right type of data is crucial. The visual representation must allow you to communicate the right information, in the right way, to the right people, at the right time. In other words, the set of graphics must tell a story. From this point of view, the use of Microsoft Power BI can become an interesting option to accomplish this task.
At this point, some upstream thinking is required: What data do I need? What level of detail is needed? Identifying the granularity of the data is essential to collect relevant data. It is also essential to structure your data infrastructure in order to be able to make it live afterwards.
If you need support from business intelligence experts, contact the Merkur team!
ABOUT US
MERKUR is a firm of experts in manufacturing performance and innovation and has been doing so for over 25 years. From strategy to execution, its sole objective is to make Quebec manufacturing companies more efficient by offering innovative solutions in product development, operational excellence, business and supply chain strategy, manufacturing engineering, automation and smart factory. Merkur is proud to contribute to innovation and productivity in Quebec!
KHROME PRODUCT TRANSPORT is a manufacturing integrator located in Drummondville specialized in the design and manufacturing of train car interiors and exteriors. Its strength comes from its great engineering capacity and its manufacturing agility. Among its customer portfolio, there are major customers such as Alstom, Bombardier Transport and Kawasaki Rail Car.
SYNKRO is a software developed by Merkur and designed specifically for high-performance manufacturers. It collects, classifies and distributes in real time the right data to the right people at the right time. SYNKRO gives you a real vision of your operations. SYNKRO is the software solution that finally connects your plant and your offices!
