All Essential Instruments Available in the Management Cockpit?

Maximilian Kissel
3 min readMar 1, 2023

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Product Mining and Process Mining for the Manufacturing Industry

In today’s manufacturing landscape, businesses are constantly seeking ways to improve their operations and increase their competitiveness. One way in which manufacturing companies can achieve this is through the use of data-driven technologies like process mining and product mining. While process mining is well established and widely adopted, product mining is a newer concept that is rapidly gaining attention due to its ability to provide insights into the product value stream. In this article, we will explore the differences between product mining and process mining, their benefits, and why executives in the manufacturing industry should consider product mining in addition to existing process mining solutions.

Focus on HOW to do the work better: Improving Efficiency

Process mining is a data-driven technology that uses event logs to analyze and optimize business processes. The technology contributes to a reduction of inefficient process variants. By analyzing process data, process mining can provide insights into process inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and opportunities for optimization. Process mining can be used to improve process efficiency by reducing process lead times, eliminating process bottlenecks, and optimizing process performance.

Focus on WHAT to work on in a company: Improving Effectiveness

Product mining, on the other hand, is a data-driven technology that provides insights into the product value stream. With this technology, the business objects and their complexity come into scope. In particular, bills of material are resolved and thus the connection from suppliers to components to products, production and inventories up to customer shopping baskets are mapped in powerful graph technologies.

Unnecessary complexity contributes to business paralysis. The automated identification of value patterns supports the prioritization of acute action areas and general improvement measures. Mastering the right level of complexity leads to significantly increased competitiveness, higher profitability, and growth opportunities.

By analyzing product data, product mining can provide insights into the product portfolio, product and component rationalization, supply chain operations and customer management. Product mining can be used to improve product effectiveness by simplifying variants, the supply chain, improving quality management, reducing product complexity, mitigating supply risks and identifying new product opportunities.

The Benefits of Both Worlds

The benefits of process mining are well established and widely recognized. By using process mining, manufacturing companies can:

  • Improve process efficiency and reduce lead times
  • Eliminate process bottlenecks and improve process performance
  • Optimize process resources and reduce process costs
  • Improve process quality and reduce defects
  • Increase customer satisfaction and improve service levels

The benefits of product mining are newer and less widely recognized. By using product mining, manufacturing companies can:

  • Simplify the supply chain and reduce supply chain costs
  • Improve quality management and reduce the cost of quality
  • Reduce product complexity and increase operational efficiency
  • Identify new product opportunities and improve innovation
  • Manage supply chain risks and improve resilience

Why Executives in Manufacturing Definitely Should Consider Both Technologies — Product Mining and Process Mining

While process mining is a well-established technology with proven benefits, product mining is a newer technology that can provide complementary insights. By using product mining in addition to process mining, executives in the manufacturing industry can gain a deeper understanding of their product value stream and identify new opportunities for improvement. Product mining can help executives optimize the product portfolio, rationalize the supply chain, reduce product complexity, and improve quality management. By using product mining in conjunction with process mining, manufacturing companies can achieve both efficiency and effectiveness, resulting in improved competitiveness and profitability.

In conclusion, both process mining and product mining are valuable data-driven technologies that can provide significant benefits to manufacturing companies seeking to improve their operations and gain a competitive advantage. While process mining focuses on improving efficiency, product mining focuses on improving effectiveness. By using both technologies in conjunction, executives in the manufacturing industry can achieve a comprehensive understanding of their business processes and product value stream, resulting in improved competitiveness and profitability.

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Maximilian Kissel
Maximilian Kissel

Written by Maximilian Kissel

Transforming Product Data into Business Value with Product Mining

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