从指标转移到分析不仅仅是庞然大物制造商正在做的事情。实际上，在许多方面，中小型企业(SMBs) are in a better position to make the move quickly and without a lot of angst. After all, the SMB won't have to worry about replacing a lot of other solutions, or the more troublesome effort of integrating with legacy systems. The industrial SMB is much nimbler and can leapfrog over the big guy to get its hands on the right analytics and get them installed and delivering value quickly.
在我们最近的检查工业公司的指标和分析LNS研究发现，有40％的公司已经开始进行分析。但是，大多数中小型企业仍然依靠仪表板来评估其业务和运营绩效的健康。缺乏复杂性通常在小型制造商的运营架构中反映出来。实际上，SMB的运营架构与大型公司完全不同。这是真的的原因有很多，但是事实是一个小型制造商不需要建造或支持资源来支持高度复杂的分析基础架构。
Getting ready for analytics
即使SMB的运营架构比制造业巨头要复杂得多，但您不能一夜之间从指标转向分析, or without some thoughtful planning. Before you even get started, you might need to educate others throughout the company on the differences between metrics and analytics, why one compliments but doesn’t replace the other, and what considerations the company must evaluate before making the leap. Again, the considerations are much different for a small or mid-size manufacturing enterprise than a large one. While a big company will likely need to gather a cross-functional team of 10, 20 or more people, the smaller company will likely have thorough representation with as few as three, five or 10 people.
大公司也需要采取措施avoid “pilot purgatory,” a pilot project that never ends and never scales. The nimbler SMB is unlikely to experience such a fate, since it can just as quickly shut down or swap out an analytics choice as it chooses and flips the on switch. As a result, the SMB is less likely to hit a dead end with no quantifiable results. Where an analytics initiative is concerned, the risks are far less and the timeline much shorter for the SMB.
The analysts across LNS consistently advise clients, “Define your data model, and work within your defined operational architecture.” But what exactly does that mean for the SMB? We’re not suggesting that any SMB build a complex operational architecture—quite the opposite. The operational architecture should reflect the size and needs of the organization, the type of manufacturing it conducts, the market it serves, and every other characteristic that makes it unique. Consider this: Your architecture might be cobbled together, or perhaps non-existent, since many are still using whiteboards, spreadsheets or even a manufacturing execution system (MES) that churns out mountains of data. There are a lot of SMBs that can get going with high-impact analytics with only minor adjustments, depending on their current architecture.
Everyone needs a use case
Though it’s relatively easy for the SMB to ramp up with analytics, it still needs to ferret out specific opportunities for its market andchoose which one or two to capitalize on first。这是您对该倡议的指南针，这是提供快速胜利的方式，以资助公司各级的未来努力和助长热情。但这并不是您的公司从指标到分析的努力时的尽头。
如果您已经拥有企业资源计划（ERP）系统甚至MES，则组织可能不需要专门的平台来进行分析。查看您当前的解决方案提供商，并查看其最新版本。即使您使用的是只有两三年的版本，其当前产品也可能具有比现在版本更多的分析功能。无论您的指标跟踪是手动还是通过当前系统运行，供应商都可能对您的分析感到惊讶，这些分析能够做得比今天能做的更多。“分析”并不总是意味着必须进行大量投资或全新的系统或供应商。查看您的用例以及公司想要实现的目标，以指导您的选择。
评估准备
最重要的是，问自己（以及周围的人）是否准备好进行分析。例如：
- Do you consistently employ a metrics framework that helps define your metrics hierarchy and relationships?
- Are you selecting the most meaningful metrics that measure business value and impact, not just throughput and downtime?
- 您的指标是否超出了机器和车间活动，并在操作仪表板上包括质量，客户和业务指标？
- Are you relying on a multilevel dashboard that serves the leadership team as well as operations, and can it be used to facilitate real-time course adjustments and strategic recommendations?
- Will your analytics initiative enhance the quality and availability of data?
- 您是否要使用正式流程来收集和管理数据（通常称为操作架构）？
- Have you considered where you'll need to keep data and how long you’ll need to keep it?
- 谁将加入您的跨职能团队来指导主动权？
您的公司不需要这些问题中的每个问题就可以“是”来表示分析的真实准备。但是，这些主题将需要您的关注，以使您获得成功和从工业分析中获取真正的价值。
>>黛安·默里（Diane Murray），diane.murray@lns-global.com，是高级营销和研究助理LNS研究，它提供咨询和基准测试服务，以帮助业务线和IT高管做出关键决策。
