Industrial organizations have been inundated over the last few years with talk of Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and endless hype about analytics and Big Data. Everyone is focused on Digital Transformation and often on a business shift enterprise-wide or beyond. The reasons for change vary widely — enable new business models, establish greater operational efficiencies, and so much more. The single common denominator is decision-making. We sometimes forget that Industry 4.0 isn’t the goal, it’s the vehicle to convert data to better, faster decisions.

In this spotlight, LNS Research explores how the use of data has and continues to change, the new ways people interact with data, and the requisite technologies to unlock the potential of existing and expanding data. In particular, we examine how industrial organizations handle and present data at the plant level, and how sensible choices today ensure flexibility and expansibility.