How to Design Effective Industrial KPI Dashboards for Optimal Performance Monitoring

In today's competitive industrial landscape, businesses need to track costs with precision, especially in margin-thin industries where every percentage point matters. While this has always been a challenge, modern information technology is transforming performance measurement.

Advanced computing now allows us to analyze entire data populations rather than limited samples. Production floors, warehouses, and supply chains generate information at every touchpoint, creating unprecedented operational visibility.

The new challenge lies in separating signal from noise. Smart analytics has become essential, allowing industrial operators to identify meaningful patterns amid constant data streams. By focusing on the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), businesses can translate raw information into strategic advantages that protect margins in an increasingly competitive environment.

Our industry customers feel the challenge every day. The way we work together is a mutual symbiosis: they know their business and the KPIs they need to track. We know technology and data analytics – and help them track those with a smart visualisation tools.

Some of the KPIs we help track for our customers are:

• Manufacturing Cycle Time - Time from production start to completion

• Production Downtime - Unplanned stops in manufacturing

• Scrap Rate - Percentage of material wasted during production

• Inventory Accuracy - Physical count vs. system records match rate

• Warehouse Capacity Utilization - Space utilization percentage

• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)

• Planned Maintenance Percentage - Planned vs. emergency maintenance

These are some of metrics our customers need to track to stay competitive. However, given the power of real time data analytics with advanced algorithms and available IT infrastructure, there are new ways of looking at old problems. Especially with a pair of fresh eyes an external partner can provide.

In a project with a customer from manufacturing industry, the DataSense team was able to design, calculate and monitor a completely new metric which customer integrated in his report suite. The customer, Austria based integrated manufacturer, produces carbon fibre panels for variety of large business customers across the world. Our task was to help them predict sales volumes and values for coming quarters (first phase) thus enabling them to optimize material purchases and save costs (second phase). When we looked at their reporting suite, we saw they were tracking nominal values of the product and raw materials. However, with connecting external data to the analytical system, DataSense team could produce „Component Price Inflation index“ over multiple years back. This way customer could track and project real pricing of their goods, including annual price changes in their niche market.

We could set up a visual time series monitoring soultion which enabled the customer easy and visually attractive way of looking at their data.

Ultimately, the strategic selection and monitoring of KPIs is a business imperative in today's data-rich industrial environment. By partnering with technology experts who understand both analytics and industry challenges, businesses can transform operational data into actionable intelligence.

Whether tracking traditional metrics or developing custom indicators, the goal remains consistent: identifying signals that truly matter for operational excellence and financial performance. In this partnership between industry expertise and analytical innovation, businesses find the clarity needed to thrive in competitive markets where margins—and the metrics that protect them—truly matter.

We at DataSense remain true to our tagline: Making Sense out of Data. Why? Because there is no data based decision making. Only information base done. And finding Sense in the Data Jungle is how we help our customer make informed decisions.