If Data is the New Gold, Where to Start Digging?

In a data-overloaded environment, companies may struggle to fully reap the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies. Understanding data utilization can help transform process datasets into decision-making assets The chemical process industries (CPI) have been realizing for some time that information is of strategic importance for the survival of any organization. Colloquially, data have been called a new natural resource [1] — every part of an organization is making decisions daily, based on data they collect, process, analyze and review. The global pandemic has further driven the awareness of digital transformation for any company, and manufacturers are no exception to this. The rise of Industry 4.0 technologies has further driven this trend, and with more and more data available, organizations are struggling to reap the benefits of these data. At the same time, the industry acknowledges that poor engineering information can have real and significant impacts, but little research has been done to quantify this. Among this mixture of promising potential and data overload, companies are struggling to define where and how to start. This article shines a bit of light on how an organization can make progress in its quest to transform its…