The 4 Ps of Safety
You've heard of the four Ps of marketing. How about the four Ps of safety? The first three are the targets we focus on to foster safety: people; places; and processes. The last, predictive analytics, is a data-driven way to…
Competing on Analytics: Ten-year Update Published
It has been ten years since Tom Davenport, one of the leaders of First Analytics, along with Jeanne Harris, published the seminal book, Competing on Analytics. It is credited for initiating the serious adoption of analytics by businesses. Tom says…
Try These Tools from the Insurance Industry
The sharing of techniques and methodologies across industries can produce advances in successful applications, not only for the practice of analytics as a whole, but for individual firms. Practitioners in the areas of marketing and supply chain analytics, for example,…
Improving Workplace Safety with Analytics: A Webinar Hosted by SAS
This is the time of year when many people are taking vacations. Be careful! Did you know that some workplace safety incidents can be tied to employees returning to work from their vacation? Well, this is true at times, but…
First Analytics Exhibiting at the National Safety Council Expo
For the first time, First Analytics will be participating in the National Safety Council Expo, to be held in Indianapolis, September 25-27. With companies now collecting volumes of safety-related data, the time is ripe to apply advanced analytics to help…
First Analytics at SAS Analytics Experience 2017
First Analytics is a sponsor and active participant in the upcoming SAS Analytics Experience 2017. Please stop by our booth in the innovation hub to say "hello'. Additionally we invite you to attend some sessions that we will be involved…
Analytics Helps Union Pacific Become the Safest U.S. Railroad
Union Pacific recently announced that, for the second year in a row, it has been the top-performing railroad in employee safety. Furthermore, 2016 was the safest year in their 154 year history. While the railroad has undertaken a decade-long pursuit…
How to Slice It: Using Optimal Reconciliation for Hierarchical and Grouped Forecasts
Companies use forecasting methods to plan for future demand using time series data. Often, these time series can be represented in a hierarchy. For example, products can be broken down to different levels of sales data. Figure 1 shows an…
Machine Learning for Manufacturing: Presentation at mHUB Chicago
First Analytics will presenting to entrepreneurs who are members of the mHUB manufacturing innovation center in Chicago. The topic is, "Building Machine Learning into Your Product ." The event is open to the public, so if you have the opportunity…
Bewildering Technology Landscapes
Technology landscapes like these are "eye charts". While meant to classify vendors and technologies, when viewed from a distance they convey the message that selecting technologies is a daunting and overwhelming exercise. Matt Turck from Firstmark Capital recently updated his…