Manufacturing firms face hidden costs from fragmented data visibility

Discrete manufacturers often make critical decisions without a real‑time view of production, leading to cost overruns, missed delivery dates and quality problems. A 2024 Zebra Technologies study found only 16% of manufacturers have real‑time visibility across operations, with data trapped in separate systems, spreadsheets and legacy ERP modules.

Operations leaders also struggle with maintenance reporting. Over‑abundant dashboards, poor data quality and siloed reporting reduce actionable insight. Five reports – asset downtime, planned vs. unplanned work ratio, maintenance cost by asset, preventive‑maintenance compliance and mandatory CMMS fields – are highlighted as the most valuable for turning raw data into competitive advantage.