Lenses on Data: Toward an Application Perspective on Data in Manufacturing

Data is becoming increasingly important in manufacturing, enabling visions like cyber-physical production systems and digital twins. However, companies still struggle to effectively leverage data to drive process improvements and productivity gains. One reason is that there are many implicit assumptions and perspectives on what data fundamentally represents. This paper explores five distinct “lenses” through which data can be viewed, drawing from the fields of information theory, information systems, accounting, management theory, and economics. While each lens offers valuable insights, we argue that manufacturing requires a more application-oriented understanding of data that accounts for the socio-technical nature of factories. We discuss six key attributes of data from a manufacturing perspective, including cost, coverage, fidelity, timeliness, accuracy, and accessibility. We argue that rather than pursuing an all-encompassing digital replica, the focus of manufacturers should be on collecting just enough relevant data to enable specific manufacturing applications while prioritizing coverage of the entire shop floor.