Leaders' Blog

“We don’t just need to predict future performance; we need to prescribe corrective actions.”

— Andrew Faulkner, Tools, Process and Planning Manager - Alstom

Manufacturers have never had more data at their fingertips. The challenge is no longer collecting information, it is turning that data into meaningful insight and, ultimately, action.

Speaking ahead of Manufacturing Leaders’ Summit in November, Andrew Faulkner of Alstom Group highlighted a key issue facing organisations across manufacturing, particularly in the rail industry: data often sits in silos. Engineering, industrialisation, supply chain and manufacturing teams may use different systems and work towards different objectives, making it difficult to create a joined-up data strategy.

For many organisations, this means stopping at descriptive reporting. Dashboards can show what has happened, such as whether deliveries were made on time and in full, but they do not necessarily explain what will happen next or what corrective action should be taken.

The answer, Andrew argued, is greater digital adoption and ownership across the business. Standardising digital tools and processes across manufacturing sites can create consistent, transparent and trusted data, while connecting teams through a common data environment can help organisations move beyond isolated reporting.

The next step is moving from “visibility to action”. Real-time dashboards and data-mining tools can provide teams with information directly from source systems, reducing reliance on manually collected data and increasing confidence in the insights being used to make decisions.

Crucially, this intelligence needs to be embedded into everyday workflows rather than creating another layer of complexity. Live process monitoring can ensure that the right information reaches the right person at the right time, enabling faster decisions and quicker identification of issues.

For manufacturing, the future of data is therefore not simply about having more of it. It is about creating connected systems, trusted information and actionable intelligence that becomes part of the standard flow of work. When data moves seamlessly across the organisation, it can become a powerful tool for improving operational performance, collaboration and decision-making.

Andrew Faulkner

Tools, Process and Planning Manager, Alstom