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Notes on operational intelligence, manufacturing data, and getting answers without a data team.

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All audit-trail 1 building in public 1 consolidation 1 controller 1 data 3 excel 1 football analytics 1 manufacturing 2 manufacturing-data-integration 1 margin 1 mittelstand 1 post-merger-reporting 1 power-bi 1 real-time 1
Two-panel cover. Left: cell H47 of consolidation.xlsx in the cost rebaselining sheet, an orange comment ribbon above the cell reading 'Verified part equivalence with engineering 2026-03-12, Müller confirmed', a multi-line IF/VLOOKUP formula below that returns €4.62. Right: a Power BI group reporting dashboard for YTD 2026 with a top strip of headline KPIs (Revenue €48.3M, Margin 31.7%, COGS €33.0M, EBITDA €6.2M), a 'Standard cost by family' table where the Connector family row is highlighted in orange and shows DE €4.20, US €4.95, Group €4.62, and a focal card labelled 'Consolidated standard cost - Connector family' displaying €4.62 with a 'minus €0.08 vs plan' and '184,000 units this period' annotation. Below the dashboard: 'Inherits the number. Doesn't inherit the comment.' An orange arrow labelled 'draws from' connects the workbook formula to the dashboard.
8 min read

The Excel-and-Power-BI handoff that holds post-merger reporting together

For months or years after a manufacturing acquisition, the Excel workbook is the consolidation engine. The Power BI card shows the resolved number but never the formula or the comment beside it. That is what fails at year-end audit.

post-merger-reportingcontrollerexcelpower-bimanufacturing-data-integrationaudit-trailconsolidation
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Projected per-order margin during a single shift on a four-line packaging plant. Starts near zero at 11:00, deepens through 12:00 as the cycle-time drift on Müller-Pharma's blister-card line consolidates, levels around -340€ through the planned shift end at 13:30, and is confirmed at -363.31€ when the order completes 55 minutes late at 14:25.
7 min read

Can you see per-order margin while the shift is still running?

The actual profit margin of a manufacturing order in most cases is decided based on what happens during the shift, but almost no plant can see it while the shift is running.

manufacturingdatamarginreal-time
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PSG 5-4 Bayern matchup data card showing PSG won despite Bayern leading expected goals 3.06 to 1.90.
11 min read

Anatomy of a 5-4 Champions League Thriller: A Football Data Case Study

Champions League knockout games aren't usually 5-4 thrillers. April's PSG vs Bayern semi-final first leg was. Bayern had 57% possession, an xG of 3.06 to PSG's 1.90, and six big chances to PSG's two. PSG won anyway. I dug into the data to see what might be going on.

football analyticsdatabuilding in public
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Industrial digitalization by region in 2026: China 72%, US 69%, India 68%, Mexico 67%, UK 62%, DACH 57%. DACH ranks last among the six regions surveyed by MHP / LMU Munich.
10 min read

DACH manufacturing now trails every major economy on digitalization

Manufacturing companies in the DACH Mittelstand are sitting on a great deal of valuable data, and almost none of them are using it well. I've spent the last few months talking to plant managers, controllers, and owners across the region, most recently at Hannover Messe last week, and the pattern is consistent. The data exists. They know it exists. They can't really use it.

manufacturingmittelstanddata
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