CLEVELAND—Flooded with data, Parker Hannifin Corp. hired a young economist in 2008 to figure out what the information meant to the industrial conglomerate's far-flung operations.

What Ryan Reed told executives in one of his first presentations didn't go over well. Looking at capacity utilization rates—the percentage of available production capacity that is actually in use—Mr. Reed told executives that sales in the company's automation business would be substantially lower in October. "The guys said: 'That can't be right....