Larry Korak is the industry strategy director for industrial manufacturing at Infor, 641 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10011, 646-336-1700, www.infor.com.
Big Data analytics is taking over manufacturing and providing a totally new dimension to the value of research and trend analysis. Instead of only reporting past activities, data now predicts future events, foresees risk and helps shops build and deliver not only better products, but a richer overall experience for their customers.
Predicting maintenance requirements is one of the most important benefits of advanced analytics. In the face of a hyper-competitive global economy, the smart use of predictive analytics may be the differentiating factor that sets one fabricator apart from the countless others.