Achieving better functional analyses: Big Data is the key

The raison d’être in industry is the transformation of raw materials into suitable products that satisfy people’s requirements and, by extension, those of the market. The quantity of processes performed and the parties that have to intervene to make this transformation possible vary depending on the sector or the purpose of the product. Coordinating all of the above is complicated as it generates data which is both ample and extremely diverse and to which other variables are added, such as the market, external factors, the competition... the information keeps on growing! Knowing how to process it to find out which type of data we have and which can truly add value, streamlining processes, identifying trends, reducing uncertainty, making forecasts and being able to react in time is critical for any sector’s industry.

Established in 1996 in Shenzhen, South China, Han’s Laser Technology Industry Group Co., Ltd was successfully stock listed in 2004. By 2010, it had already grown into a big group of companies with 6000 employees and, by 2017, it had achieved more than 1.6 billion US dollars sales turnover. Lantek has been working with Han’s Laser for a considerable time and its nesting software has delivered significant savings in material usage for Han’s Laser’s customers.

It is generally quite difficult to know exactly how much each process contributes to a product’s value chain. The sheet metal world is not immune to the difficulty of estimating the right price for the product. There is an infinite number of processes that add value to a product: material used, scrap generated, cutting time, consumables used, labor associated with production, miscellaneous indirect costs, etc.