Building a BI Dashboard for Plant Managers: What Data Actually Gets Used

The Metrics That Drive Daily Decisions

Based on working with 40+ plant managers across India, the metrics that get checked daily without exception are: production vs target (for the day, by line), OEE (current shift and rolling 7-day), top 3 downtime reasons (current shift), rejection rate vs target. Everything else is nice-to-have.

Mobile-First Design

Plant managers check dashboards on their phones, usually from the factory floor, often with poor lighting and while standing. Design for a 6-inch screen first. Huge numbers, high contrast, minimal navigation. If it is not readable at arm’s length in 3 seconds, redesign it.

Drill-Down Structure

Level 1 (Home): factory-wide summary — 5 numbers. Level 2 (Line view): all lines side-by-side, sortable by OEE. Level 3 (Machine view): individual machine timeline for the shift. Level 4 (Event view): specific downtime event with reason, duration, and operator. Most sessions stay at Level 1–2. Level 3–4 are used for investigation.

When to Show Alerts, Not Just Data

The dashboard should proactively push alerts to WhatsApp/email when: any line falls below 70% OEE, a machine stops for more than 15 minutes without a reason code, daily production target is at risk based on current pace. Alerts bring managers to the dashboard — passive data display does not.