July 29, 2024 Summer Storm Savvy: Weatherproof Manufacturing with Data

Manufacturers must turn to data-driven operations to weather storm season and gain the visibility they need to meet their production goals.

by Chris Balow, Director of Product Management, Plex by Rockwell Automation

The 2023 El Niño climate pattern was one of the strongest on record, and forecasters are already predicting La Niña conditions are more likely to develop by the summertime. This anticipated shift signals a pending active Atlantic hurricane season. Winter storms this year also have caused challenges resulting in lower production and manufacturing output, providing an early warning to manufacturers to be ready. The message is clear: manufacturers must be prepared to weather the storms, both literal and figurative.

While manufacturers are more interconnected than ever, they’re also increasingly vulnerable. Summer storms can throw a wrench in supply chains, causing disruptions to production schedules, delaying deliveries, and even impacting bottom lines. Hurricanes, flooding and power outages can also cause raw materials shortages or even physical damage to facilities. According to a 2024 State of Smart Manufacturing Report, supply chain disruption is ranked in the top five of anticipated external obstacles to organizations’ growth for 2024. This underscores the need for manufacturers to be agile and resilient in the face of such challenges.

Murky Data and Blind Spots

While forecasting the weather is still possible, the intensifying nature and frequency of extreme storms makes planning for them more difficult. Traditional manufacturing operations and data management consisted of spreadsheets, planner experience and a lot of guesswork. Decisions were made based on dated, error-prone information and human analysis using spreadsheets or old disparate software and systems. This reality forced companies into a reactive position because data was compiled and analyzed after events had occurred. This meant there was little planning professionals could do except respond to a weather event after it occurred.

That’s why manufacturers should look toward leveraging big data analytics as a crucial digital building block in business processes. Achieving real-time visibility is critical to monitor safety stock and actual lead times to ensure material availability for production schedule to stay on track. It’s not enough to have a plan. Manufacturers also need the agility to adapt quickly, requiring a comprehensive grasp of their operations and the ability to leverage data for swift decision-making that keeps production on-track. Data is the key to helping manufacturers navigate unpredictable changes, make informed decisions, respond to issues and adjust accordingly in real-time as needed. Failure to prioritize this can trigger a domino effect, disrupting production schedules and ultimately impacting the bottom line.

Weathering Uncertainty with Agility

Automation and data-driven operations are key to manufacturers achieving flexibility and agility to stay ahead of weather uncertainty. Siloed, error-prone and outdated manual and paper-based processes can simply no longer keep pace with the complex and unpredictable landscape of modern manufacturing.

Manufacturers can take the following key steps to embracing data in their operations and decision-making:

• Assessing digital maturity:
  • How well a company overcomes unpredictable challenges boils down to where they are on the digital maturity path. As digital leaders progress on the maturity path, digital laggards will be forced to adapt or drop out. Manufacturers must evaluate current data infrastructure, analytics capabilities and integration with critical systems to identify areas for improvement.
• Shifting to a data-driven cultural mindset:
  • Data-driven manufacturing and decision-making means adopting a different mindset to manage the enterprise. This mindset impacts business models and how decisions are made. Digital laggards tend to use traditional, top-down decision-making in their operations while digital leaders often embrace a collaborative decision-making process. With complete operational visibility, these companies let data and analytical insights guide them in uncertainty.
• Leveraging automation and integration:
  • Process automation, combined with robust smart manufacturing and software solutions, leverages a company’s machine data to optimize processes, improve decision-making, and revolutionize performance. Additionally, integrating smart manufacturing systems can help manufacturers foster seamless data flow across the organization. This empowers manufacturers to gain real-time insights into their operations, enabling them to make informed decisions quickly and efficiently.

Clear Skies Ahead for Manufacturers

The rising frequency of extreme weather events around the world requires that manufacturers take action to prepare for potential disruptions. By embracing data-driven operations, manufacturers unlock a powerful arsenal for navigating the increasingly turbulent waters of extreme storms. Real-time data provides the critical visibility needed to achieve production goals by helping manufacturers adjust production timelines based on weather forecasts to minimize disruptions or reroute shipments around storm-ravaged areas to ensure timely delivery. By taking the key steps to leveraging automation and seamless data integration across systems, manufacturers can achieve the agility and resilience needed to weather any storm.

Chris Balow is the Director of Product Management at Plex, by Rockwell Automation. During the past 18 years with Plex, he has had the opportunity to walk factory floors across the country and build relationships with manufacturers across all industries. He draws on these firsthand experiences to inform the development of new or improved smart manufacturing solutions.

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