Analyst Insight: The number one challenge to making predictive and prescriptive analytics succeed is data cleanliness and completeness. Until that is solved, predictive analytics programs will struggle to provide value. The problem is made more acute by the amount of new data coming online each year. – Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research

Business transformations that leverage digital technologies may sit atop most CIOs' priority lists, but the reality is that digitization is far from mainstream. Industries remain less than 40 percent digitized on average, according to research McKinsey & Co. released earlier this month.

FLEXcon was founded in 1956 when Myles McDonough saw an unmet need. "My father was an adhesive salesperson with a chemistry background, helping customers throughout New England learn how to run and where to use newly developed acrylic based adhesives," notes his son, Neil. "He noticed that his customers frequently turned down small orders. If the order was for less than 3,000 yards, then it was not worth setting up the adhesive coating machine. He believed, and subsequently proved, that there was a good business in small custom orders, if you organized yourself effectively and priced the order appropriately."

When a component in a chiller or compressor starts to fail, the machine may continue to operate, but the reduced efficiency will cost a user in power consumption. Managing the health of mechanical parts can be a difficult task for buildings and industries, despite being an important way to ensure that machines are operating effectively.