Companies throughout process industries are big users of traditional modeling, simulation, and data analysis technologies ― and increasingly of advanced Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) analytics that make use of manufacturing data directly from plant operations and machinery. However, the way they use this analytics technology differs from other industrial sectors in some fundamental ways. At LNS Research, we’ve measured the use of analytics in process industries over several years, and earlier results showed that process companies were focused almost exclusively on a single-use case: predictive maintenance for critical risk assets.
However, our most recent studies show a growing trend toward a wider range of use cases, extending far beyond uptime and asset performance to process improvements, quality improvements, and better forecasting, to name just a few. This push beyond predictive maintenance has led companies in process industries to provide access to IIoT analytics directly to plant managers (62%) and plant level personnel (41%) at rates between 50% and 100% higher than other industries. This aligns with our findings on companies that are further along in the Industrial Transformation journey. That is, more mature companies empower plant personnel with analytics that deliver real-time insights, and with authority to make decisions based on the output of those analytics ― not surprisingly, these companies have achieved more significant improvements over time because of this empowerment.