Standardization plays a pivotal role in enhancing operational efficiency across industries. In the manufacturing sector, data standardization is crucial for improving accuracy, visibility, and collaboration, ensuring that factory workers can make informed decisions based on real-world insights.

One example of a digital solution that empowers manufacturing shopfloor with the right data is EviView. Our innovative solution streamlines data collection, transformation, and contextualization while effortlessly standardizing data structures, ensuring consistent reporting and analytics across the entire operation. By reducing the risk of errors and eliminating the need for manual tracking on whiteboards or Excel spreadsheets, team members gain a competitive advantage, making them more efficient while driving down operational costs.

The benefits of data standardization can be grouped into these key areas:

1. Improve data quality and integrity
   One of the key advantages of data standardization is its ability to eliminate inconsistencies and discrepancies that may arise from disparate data sources. By transforming raw data into a standardized format, manufacturers can ensure cleaner, more reliable data that is less prone to errors and inaccuracies. Accurate data acts as a solid foundation for analysis and enables workers and managers to make informed decisions based on real-world insights. With the integration of EviView into their existing infrastructure, manufacturers experience improved data quality and integrity, fostering a more efficient and effective decision-making process.
2. Streamline data collection and transformation with effortless deployment
   Data standardization, when combined with effortless deployment, significantly streamlines data collection and transformation processes. A digital solution like EviView will seamlessly integrate with a manufacturer’s existing infrastructure, allowing for the capture, transformation, and contextualization of data from both new and legacy equipment. By effortlessly standardizing data structures, you’ll ensure consistent reporting and analytics across the entire operation. This streamlined approach minimizes human intervention, reduces the risk of errors, and eliminates the need for manual tracking on whiteboards or tedious Excel spreadsheet analysis. Your workforce at every level, from the shop floor to the executive suite, can easily access and interpret relevant data specific to their respective responsibilities.
3. Standardize activities across different levels of production
   Data standardization brings significant efficiency gains and boosts throughput across individual workstations and entire factories. Standardized work procedures and accurate cycle times are established through historical data, empowering production teams to optimize their processes. Moreover, standardized data enables quality control teams to benchmark defect rates and identify areas for improvement. From the shop floor to the executive suite, a streamlined approach to data standardization facilitates seamless collaboration and promotes better teamwork across different departments, enhancing overall operational efficiency.
4. Predictive analytics and maintenance
   Standardized data, combined with sophisticated analytics, empowers manufacturers to leverage predictive maintenance and gain actionable insights. Maintenance teams can utilize these insights to receive alerts when equipment malfunctions or to develop effective usage-based maintenance schedules, ensuring optimal equipment maintenance timing and reducing downtime. Furthermore, production teams can rely on historical data to establish accurate cycle times and standard work procedures, while quality control teams can benchmark defect rates and identify areas for improvement. The power of predictive analytics extends beyond maintenance, benefiting other departments within the organization as well.
5. Increase data sharing and collaboration
   Standardized data offers workers an unprecedented level of visibility into their shop floor operations. With proficient data sharing and collaboration, teams across shifts, departments, and locations can seamlessly communicate, ensuring everyone has access to relevant information when they need it. This level of transparency and collaboration optimizes operations, promoting better teamwork and coordination across production, quality control, warehouse, maintenance and engineering, and other departments. By connecting teams and facilitating information sharing, data standardization enhances overall operational efficiency and promotes a culture of continuous improvement.
6. Enhance operational excellence
   In the past, data analysis used to be a resource-intensive endeavor, demanding specialized skills and personnel. However, advancements in data standardization and actionable analytics have enabled companies to adopt a self-service approach, creating customized reporting and analyses without needing an in-house team of data analysts. This approach not only enhances operational efficiency but also optimizes resource utilization, allowing businesses to track machine availability, measure operator effectiveness, and identify areas for improvement.

   Through comprehensive analysis and data standardization, companies can track and visualize performance, problems, trends, and insights, seamlessly monitoring the entire production process from start to finish. Managers can also leverage historical data to establish accurate cycle times and standard work procedures, while quality control teams can benchmark defect rates and identify areas for improvement.

7. Cost savings and improved profitability:
   Data standardization across the manufacturing value chain contributes to significant cost savings in various areas. By ensuring data cleansing, storage, and analysis are streamlined, manufacturers can minimize expenses. Furthermore, enhanced efficiency and reduced downtime result in lower operational costs, ultimately leading to improved profitability. As data standardization becomes more deeply ingrained in manufacturing processes, companies can recognize the cost-saving opportunities and reap the benefits of improved efficiency and productivity.

Conclusion:

Data standardization has become an essential component for manufacturers seeking to connect their workers with the data to enhance operational efficiency, improve decision-making, and remain competitive. Digital solutions like EviView empower manufacturers to streamline data collection, transformation, and reporting, ensuring accuracy, visibility, and collaboration across the organization. Through standardized data, manufacturers can make informed decisions, achieve cost savings, optimize resource utilization, and drive improved profitability. Embracing data standardization is no longer a distant concept; it is a reality that manufacturers can leverage to enhance operational excellence and stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of manufacturing.