Foreseeing the Future: The Shift from Dashboard Data to Predictive Solutions

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“The system should be able to tell me in advance that the problem is coming” - Arokia Sagayaraj, Nissan Motors India

January 2026 : In the volatile landscape of global automotive manufacturing, the traditional "wait and see" approach is no longer a viable strategy. During a recent roundtable hosted by Dassault Systèmes, Arokia Sagayaraj of Nissan Motors India emphasized that achieving a competitive advantage through connected manufacturing requires more than just high-tech tools - it demands a total cultural overhaul and a system that looks outward as much as it looks inward.

A common pitfall in digital transformation is the belief that software alone is a silver bullet. Sagayaraj remains grounded in a classic framework: "People, Process, Technology. Technology alone cannot do anything absolutely." He notes that while process improvements can often bubble up from the shop floor, a true data-driven culture must be a "top-down" mandate.

The most effective way to streamline an organization, according to Sagayaraj, is for leadership to refuse the old comforts of manual reporting. "The top man in the organization says that I don’t want to see any presentations and excel sheets. I just show you whatever you want to do, either in the dashboard or through the system. Obviously, everything is streamlined." By mandating that reviews happen exclusively through live systems, companies can bridge the gap between "what is in the system" and the "actual end stock," eliminating the monthly scramble to reconcile data.

With customers demanding the latest innovations "the next day," product development cycles are shrinking at an unprecedented rate. Sagayaraj argues that to save time and cost, technology must move beyond being a passive record-keeper to becoming a predictive advisor.

The most critical capability for the future, he suggests, is a system that interacts with the external world to propose solutions. It is about knowing a problem is coming before it hits the factory gate. "The system should be able to tell me in advance that the problem is coming... For example, it could interact with the external environment. As I said, some geopolitical issues are coming... How the system is able to catch in advance those kinds of geopolitical issues or the kind of a new tariff kind of scenario."

The automotive industry has already been scarred by the "chip crisis" of the COVID era. Today, the challenges have evolved into a complex web of shifting tariffs and geopolitical instability. Sagayaraj points out that internal optimization - while it has yielded significant cost and resource benefits over the years - is no longer enough because the world itself is too dynamic.

The future of connected manufacturing lies in a system's ability to pivot supply chains in real-time. We can no longer assume that today’s supplier will be available next month. By integrating external economic data and political scenarios into the manufacturing twin, companies like Nissan can foresee disruptions in the development or manufacturing phase and act while there is still time to course-correct. For Sagayaraj, the ultimate goal is a user-friendly, advisory-led system that doesn't just manage the factory, but navigates the world.

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