The dawn of the intelligent enterprise has changed manufacturing forever. The ability of the c-suite to have real-time visibility into the enterprise from financial, operations, supply chain, workforce, and sales perspectives has moved from nice-to-have to must-have. The need for intelligence inside and outside the enterprise has created a new generation of business intelligence tools finding their way inside the manufacturing sector.
The manufacturing sector’s early acceptance of six sigma tools, like familiarity with DMAIC (define-measure-analyze-improve-control) exercises, gives most manufacturers a solid basis for intelligent enterprise transformation. Given the level of automation found in many manufacturing plants and the increased use of wireless technology within any given plant, one would think that manufacturers lead the way.
When Alan Mulally arrived at Ford Motor from Boeing, however, he did not find that. A 37-year veteran of an aerospace company known for intelligent large-scale systems integration, Mulally was confronted by a siloed giant containing fiefdoms with a history of hoarding information and sabotaging previous restructuring efforts. The problem was not that the information wasn’t being collected: the problem was that it was not being shared. Mulally instituted a weekly management meeting in which every iota of data was shared with the executive corps in charts that detailed reports of newly-formed product teams and skill teams.
Neutralizing “information hoarders” can be done by a manager like Mulally, but it is even more efficient to take the keys away before hoarding occurs. Next generation BI software, which goes beyond traditional ERP systems, is giving manufacturers the ability not just to collect real-time information on the enterprise, but deliver to management fast, flexible, and scalable reporting solutions. BI provides what every great manager wants: a single version of the truth... and no secrets.
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