Using the right data in the right way at the right time is definitely the right thing to do. And even if it might sound a little bit silly if not obvious, it is in many ways the cornerstone of industrial analytics and actionable manufacturing intelligence.
There is a plethora of sensors and data generating systems available enabling as big data as anyone can desire. Some are advanced and some are pretty basic down to asset active or not, but the key question is of course whether the data are relevant for the challenge at hand. If it is the next question is if we can extract the relevant part of the data and preferrably deliver this to the user or a control system in an actionable manner. Assuming that this is the case the timeliness of the delivered information determines the value of the solution. It is insufficient to know that a product is off-spec after distributing it to the sales network, this information is required during the quality assessment. And better, before completion of the product to allow operators to adjust deviation and avoid waste of wrong quality end product.