As manufacturing goes global, use of BI makes for smart business

摘要

Crystal balls may be the stuff of myth, but for Tim Rey, leader of the data mining and modeling group at Midland, Mich.-based Dow Chemical, assessing the future is serious business. "We sell into practically every global market," says Rey. "It pays for us to monitor macroeconomic forces." Dow operates 156 sites in 37 nations, resulting in USD46 billion in annual revenue. With that much volume, any one of thousands of variables can adversely influence profits. Rey's job is to use business intelligence (BI) to stack the odds in Dow's favor.