Big Data Challenges and Opportunities in the Pneumatic Industry

The market for the pneumatic industry is mainly saturated and the competition is often based on crowding out. Thus manufacturers offer customised services and integrated solutions to separate themselves from competition. Big Data might be a new opportunity to improve customer based services, business processes and business models. The technology of Big Data allows to collect not only structured data but also unstructured and semi-structured data. These technologies change the way of information collection and offer a wide range of opportunities. The document starts with a definition of the term big data. The differences between current approaches to convert data into information and the new technologies behind Big Data will be revealed. In order to drive a successful implementation of a big data project a related strategy gets discussed. An important factor for an effective realisation are the employees behind the project. Thus the required knowledge of those persons gets highlighted. To grow in business or to stay ahead of competitors it is necessary to improve services and to search for new business opportunities. Several services are identified and with a Big Data approach further developed. A first source of such services are internet related processes. Collecting data through existing software is easy and can be done by low costs. Another source can be found in the whole business where unstructured or semi-structured data is used. Methods to collect those data are discussed. An often heard term in the industry is the “Industry 4.0”. The paper highlights the term in more detail and finally results into a new product. The research shows a lot of opportunities and the necessity for pneumatic vendors to invest into Big Data technologies and research in order be successful in the future business.