Many factories in Japan have started digitalization, yet progress often stalls. From my on‑site support experience, the main reasons are clear: factories avoid internet connectivity, visualization becomes the final goal instead of the starting point, data is not linked to management decisions, and data accuracy is taken for granted. Without connecting data to real operational and managerial decisions, digitalization remains a tool—not a driver of improvement.

Sand casting operations face bottlenecks, downtime, and limited traceability. Based on hands‑on projects in global foundries, this article explains how IoT, real‑time visualization, unified data, and AI can improve productivity—while also clarifying the limits of digital tools.