Recently, we had the chance to speak with Bryan Smith, the co-founder, and CEO of ThinkData Works Inc., who provided us with some insightful information about the partnership between Next Generation Manufacturing Canada and ThinkData to establish the Supply Chain Resiliency Platform, the use of data in forecasting, analyzing, and offering future suggestions for the manufacturing sector while preventing disruptions, and effective ways that manufacturing organizations can operate.
Bryan Smith is the Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkData Works Inc., a Toronto-based technology company whose platform is used by some of the world’s largest organizations to index and share their data assets. They provide a leading data catalog platform that helps businesses get more value from their data investments.
In early 2022, ThinkData Works partnered with Palantir Technologies to develop an industry-wide platform for supply chain resiliency to help manufacturers like Martinrea International predict, prevent, and mitigate disruptions. The project received $8 million in collaborative funding from Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), the industry-led organization behind Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster.
What motivated you to start ThinkData Works Inc? And how was your experience working for the Canadian Government as a Sr. Policy Advisor to the President of the Treasury Board of Canada?
As you mention I got my start working for the government, and during my time there, I came to understand how much data was publicly available and could benefit organizations across industries. It also became apparent that there were major barriers to seamlessly accessing this data and putting it to good use. That’s what inspired me to create a conduit between the available data and the businesses that could gain value from it – my co-founder and I started ThinkData Works to streamline the cleaning, organizing, and sharing of data, driving transformation in the emerging data catalog software space.
In my role as a Sr. Policy Advisor, I learned so many valuable skills that serve me to this day. During my three years with the Treasury Board of Canada, I helped implement the Government of Canada’s “Value for Money Ethic” initiative, which led to over $7B in annual savings and the first transition from deficit to surplus in the past 20 years.
What do you think of the collaboration between Next Generation Manufacturing Canada and ThinkData to drive the establishment of the Supply Chain Resiliency Platform?
As both organizations and consumers continue to feel the negative impacts of the global supply chain crisis, this collaboration provides an integrated solution that safeguards manufacturers against risks and disruptions. We’re ultimately working together, alongside Martinrea and Palantir, to enrich the lives of Canadians – drive economic growth, create new jobs, and provide a competitive advantage for Canadian manufacturers as well as local suppliers so consumers are much less impacted by disruptions in the supply chain.
How, in your opinion, can the data be used to forecast, analyze, and provide future suggestions for the manufacturing sector while preventing disruptions?
Data is key to modernizing manufacturing. Right now, many companies are working with antiquated systems absent data-driven insights. To prevent disruptions, manufacturers need to leverage data and automation to build analysis capability.
Data can help a manufacturer gain insight into movements along every segment of the supply chain – and that data can be used to build sophisticated models that factor in global events in order to predict shortages and recommend alternative suppliers to avoid disruptions. For example, understanding the real impact of the war in Ukraine or knowing that there is a flood in Thailand can give manufacturers insight into potential disruptions and find alternate solutions to be more proactive in their operations, rather than reactive to challenges.
What are the efficient methods that manufacturing organizations may use to enhance their operations and discover cost efficiencies with data?
Many organizations lose money through data redundancies – especially at larger companies where teams often work in silos, and different parts of the organization may purchase similar data sets. Through data cataloging, manufacturing organizations can discover cost efficiencies by eliminating these redundancies, thereby enhancing their operations by having accessible and discoverable data.
What do you believe is the biggest manufacturing innovation gap that is straining the global supply chain? And what are some possible solutions to close the gap?
The biggest gap in innovation for the manufacturing sector is access to data, and understanding how to use and apply it to improve operations. As mentioned earlier, manufacturers can avoid disruptions by combining their internal data with external data around geopolitical factors, global weather patterns, and more to uncover potential obstacles to the supply chain now and in the future. Manufacturers can’t succeed as silos. To close the gap, we need to prioritize internal transparency and make data more accessible and easier to use across every step of supply chain management.
Which particular pieces of advice would you like to offer to aspiring entrepreneurs to assist them to succeed in the manufacturing sector?
The global supply chain crisis highlighted the lack of innovation that exists in the manufacturing industry this past year, and how it impacts consumers and businesses alike. For those aspiring to succeed in this sector, my advice would be to be open to implementing innovative solutions. Manufacturers and businesses that are dependent on the supply chain can unlock immense opportunities to improve the logistics and operations of their business with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. Being able to apply data and AI to help your business analyze the implications of global events can give manufacturers much deeper insight and a competitive edge – those that aren’t afraid to apply innovative solutions will be the ones to thrive in the future.
