Business intelligence for manufacturing: use cases, features, and top tools

Manufacturers use BI tools to monitor and analyze inventory at the SKU level, keep track of inventory turnover rates, and perform inventory stock levels vs lost sales scenario analysis to:

• Estimate ideal inventory levels to meet production needs
• Get alerts about inventory stock-out or overstock in real-time
• Suggest order quantity recommendations to reduce excess stock and inventory carrying costs as well as maintain customer loyalty

Manufacturing BI tools help capture raw data from across the supply chain and combine it with demand forecasts, production schedules, and supplier data to help companies:

• Improve supply chain planning to ensure timely delivery of shipments, prevent stockouts, and eliminate short shipments
• Monitor the movement of goods and develop early-warning systems to notify of potential supply chain disruptions
• Assess suppliers’ and carriers’ performance and negotiate better prices

Manufacturing companies use BI tools to assess their financial performance with various types of financial analysis, such as revenue per employee ratio, return on net assets, profit and loss, growth rates, to:

• Develop accurate budgets and identify cost-cutting opportunities
• Improve their inventory orders and pricing, manufacturing, and marketing policies
• Forecast cash flow and profitability

Manufacturers utilize business intelligence software to run market data analysis, track customer satisfaction across various channels, and investigate product recalls to:

• Identify products/features success and validate product concepts for new product lines or existing product upgrades
• Assist developers in testing, adjusting, and retesting new products to accelerate their design and launch and reduce R&D costs
• Develop product roadmaps

Companies use BI tools to collect and analyze current and historical data on equipment performance to:

• Detect patterns leading to machine failure and suggest possible root-causes
• Develop an early warning system with the ability to trigger actions immediately to avoid unplanned downtime and help reduce maintenance costs
• Avoid downtime by integrating proactive equipment maintenance activities into the production process

Manufacturing BI software helps predict the changing market demand and identify key demand drivers to:

• Moderate the supply chain accordingly
• Smoothly increase or decrease production capacity
• Predict future sales volumes

Manufacturing companies use BI software to estimate overall production and product manufacturing costs as well as to monitor changes in customer demand patterns, competitor pricing, available inventory, and various promotional activities to:

• Find the optimal price for a product and set up an effective pricing structure for various product categories
• Develop pricing strategies for various scenarios
• Optimize pricing strategies to improve margins

Manufacturing companies use BI software to analyze data from the production cycle as well as the defects in raw materials and discarded goods to:

• Predict the likelihood of issues during the production process and take immediate actions to minimize product recalls
• Derive optimized process parameters to continuously improve production quality
• Adhere to industry-specific standards

Manufacturing business intelligence tools help analyze historical defect and warranty claims data to:

• Predict customer demand for spare parts and inventory
• Forecast warranty reserve
• Work out maintenance plans and warranty schedules
• Devise customer service strategies to effectively address complaints

BI solutions are used by manufacturers to monitor key vendor performance metrics among peers and across time to:

• Set up a unified vendor evaluation and selection processes
• Negotiate with vendors on specific points including pricing, delivery, payment terms, and after-sales services