went through the line that day, provides a baseline for analytics that can be funneled up to an MI system to achieve the desired result: using as little paint as possible (to reduce raw material costs) but just enough to protect the quality and impress the customer.

Still, even with a rational and reliable historian strategy, the key issue is still what an operation does with its visibility.  MI shines a light into operations; choosing to fix what may be wrong is still an organizational decision. For most organizations, a vibrant MI program used to be a nice-to-have. Now, it is arguably a must--a question of survival for companies that must drive down their manufacturing costs and improve their performance.
 

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