THE 5 PRACTICAL TIPS FROM INDIAN (M)-SME DIE-CASTING FOUNDRIES
Now that you understand the importance of data-centric decision making for die casting operations, here are 5 practical tips from (M)-SME Indian die-casting foundries and takeaways for better data-based decision making in casting business.
The 5 India participants in this information exchange are in no particular sequence of order as follows: Dolphin Die-Casting, Spectrum Tool Engineers, SCL / TVS, Alicon and Dimo Die-Castings. They contributed in this exchange during the recently held in-person seminar in Bangalore hosted by ILZDA / DCSI via a small survey and sideline discussion.
1) Define objectives
To get the most out of your casting data teams, casting companies should define their objectives before beginning their analysis. Set a strategy to avoid following the hype instead of the needs of your casting business and define clear Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). Although there are various KPI examples you could choose from, don't overdo it and concentrate on the most important ones within your casting industry. Btw, it is interesting to note that while some KPI’s for some may not be the same for others.
2) Clean and organize your data effectively in an integrated system environment
When it comes to data analytics (no matter which industry we talk but very much for casting operations), a fair share of an analyst's time is dedicated to cleaning and organizing the information to make sure that any wrongly formatted data is out before the analysis begins. This is a critical process to perform as the results of your analysis are the basis for a successful data driven strategy and your data needs to be a hundred percent accurate. In simple terms you must have a single source of truth. If you rely on MS Excel you may find very quickly inconsistencies and non-transparencies because it is easy to manipulate and easy to change and amend with no control on who changed and who reported the change.
With seemingly infinite strings or sets of data to work with, drilling down into the most relevant, valuable insights is the only way to gain clarity and make better decisions.
That said, once you’ve gathered your data from your most relevant sources, taking the time to mine for the most business-boosting insights will ensure you can squeeze every last drop of value from your analytical efforts.
When you’re cleaning and organizing your casting and production data, you should focus on insights that are:
- Outdated or irrelevant to your specific goals & outcomes (erase)
- Need to be formatted and categorized (arrange)
- Duplicated & creating confusion (erase & arrange)
Streamline the data you’ve gathered, note your most valuable sources, categorize your cleaned data logically - and you will be on the right path to data-driven success.
3) Analyse and understand
That may seem obvious, but we have to mention it: after setting the frame of all the questions to answer and the data collection, you then need to read through it to extract meaningful insights and analytical reports that will lead you to make data driven business decisions. In fact, user feedback is a useful tool for carrying out more in-depth analyses into the customer experience and extracting actionable insights. To do this successfully, it’s important to have context. For example, if you want to improve conversions in the purchasing funnel, understanding why visitors are dropping off is going to be a critical insight. By analysing the responses in the open comments of your feedback form (within this funnel), you will be able to see why they’re not successful in the checkout and optimize your website accordingly.
4) Present the data in a meaningful way
Digging and gleaning insights is nice, but managing to tell your discoveries and convey your message is better. You have to make sure that your acumen doesn’t remain untapped and dusty, and that it will be used for future decision making. With the help of a great data visualization software, you don’t need to be an IT crack to build and customize a powerful online dashboard that will tell your data story and assist you, your team, and your management to make the right data driven business decisions.
For example, you need to have your finances under control at all costs and we presented on Cost to Cast and Actual Base Cost separately. In addition, the most important shop floor data is coming from the Sew (Sequence of Work) inventory inside the production area.
Having here a 100% transparency and knowing precisely how many casting pieces in units / tonnage and volume are lying around on the shopfloor will lead directly to productivity gains and cost savings. Some casting companies we discussed with reported improvements via using an integrated manufacturing execution system (MES = Level 3) of INR 60 Laks and more in one year.
THAT IS direct money into the pocket of the company, freeing up resources and leading to extensive capital improvement.
The pinnacle of data visualisation and data dashboarding is the implementation of a MCT – Manufacturing Control Tower. In India very few have such instrument but increasingly looking into the feasibility to establishing one. A MCT combines all aspects of production – productivity and cost control in one room providing manufacturing insights very few have and most want.
5) Invest into the right data-based decision making tools for improved die casting operations
When it comes to business analytics for data driven decisions, if you want to realize your goals and make consistently informed decisions, working with the right tools is essential.
We touched on the value of AI technologies - and expanding on that point (as well as the importance of setting measurable goals), working with the right tools will make data accessible to everyone. By gaining access to a centralized dashboard that offers a wealth of digestible data-driven insight, everyone in the business will thrive, resulting in consistent growth, innovation, and profitability. These self-service analytics tools will enable everyone within the business to work with data without prior technical skills - and when everyone can leverage data to their advantage, your business will thrive.
Key Takeaways For Efficient Data Based Decisions
We’ve explored several compelling examples of data driven decision making, and there’s no denying it – by harnessing data in the right way and measuring your success, you stand to propel your casting business to new and exciting heights.
This paper is based on a presentation by Christian Kleeberg held at ALUCAST 2022.
References:
1) Various RGU publications on Digital Transformation of Metal Casting Operations.
2) Cost to Cast as well as Know You Actual Base Cost (ABC).
3) The 10 Misconceptions when it comes to Digitalisation of Metal Casting Operations
