Splunk in manufacturing is about helping ensure operations don't unexpectedly halt.

That's not all though - data helps a manufacturer to really get to grips with how efficiently their processes work - all the while keeping an eye on the equipment running that process to ensure there are no issues.

 

There's a range of stakeholders in the manufacturing space:

 

The operations manager wants to know if any of the equipment running the production line has issues. This might include a range of black box / PLC type equipment that we can't get information from - but it does also include equipment that we can.

 

With the wide variety of equipment to look after, the Operations Manager relies on analysis of that data to spot issues early.

 

The ICT manager needs to look after the network that supports the manufacturing process - that includes a corporate ICT network and often a SCADA network - these can be two very different things.

A SCADA network has to have the highest of uptimes and can sometimes lack visibility - making it very hard to fault find. S

 

The production manager wants it all to come together and ensure that the end product is manufactured and shipped out - on schedule.  The data they need is right across the whole process.

 

With the end users in mind, let's take a look at how what their use cases might be, in the next section below.

 

The use cases in manufacturing are pretty unique to the space: heavy machinery, processes that require close monitoring and the ability to orchestrate across a factory floor are all requirements. 

The most common use cases for Splunk in manufacturing are: 

 1. OT Monitoring & Predictive Maintenance

• Monitors machine, PLC, SCADA, and sensor data
• Detects abnormal behavior and early failure indicators
• Reduces unplanned downtime and maintenance costs

Outcome: Improved asset uptime and OEE

2. Manufacturing Operations Visibility

• Provide real‑time dashboards across lines and plant
• Track KPIs like throughput, downtime, yield, and scrap
• Correlate IT, OT, MES, and ERP data

 Outcome : Faster decisions and root‑cause analysis

 

3. OT & ICT Monitoring

• Detect ICT failures that impact the operations flow
• Correlates IT and OT events
• Support incident response - conduct network fault finding more quickly

 Outcome Reduced time to return to service 

 

 

The thing everyone wants is simple: understand what's going on - and when there's an issue have enough up to date information to see where the problem lies and quickly resolve it.

There's a couple of options in Splunk for how we show dashboards. In the IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) module, we have two options:

• Dashboard Studio: Excellent place to produce a wide range of dashboards for different users - that look good
• Glass Tables: These are a rendered image that might be more of an 'exec' level dashboard

We'll explore both the dashboard options in this blog, however typically we will default to using the Dashboard Studio.

For our end-end view though, we'll explore that exec level dashboard. We can't show an actual customer dashboard, so in this blog will illustrate the setup with some AI renders that look like the real thing.

 

The image below is an ITSI Glass Table view and in this stylised view, we can see all the important end-end information for the plant. This might be the sort of view that the CEO would like at the front desk or in the board room.

 

In this Glass Table, we're showing various parameters important to the production, which is a culmination of a range of ingested data - all displayed in one place. That ability to take that range of data and correlate it really is the power that Splunk brings - you'll get end-end visibility in a way you can't otherwise:

 Sample Render of Splunk Glass Table View 

 

The Glass Table is a useful high level view - but what about those other end users we discussed above? In the section below we'll have a quick run through the use cases we're trying to solve.

ASSOCIATED BLOGS:

• Discover Connected Devices with Splunk

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This case study shows how manufacturers use Splunk to unify IT and operational data into a single, real‑time view of plant health.

 

Correlation of network, devices and operational insights allows the operations and ICT teams can detect issues earlier, resolve problems faster, and reduce unplanned downtime.

 

The result is improved operational resilience, stronger collaboration between IT and operations, and a platform foundation for predictive maintenance and continuous improvement. Exec's typically want an overview too - and Splunk excels in being able to produce a dashboard to remove all the clutter and noise for these users.