Technology has completely revolutionized our way of life. It hasn’t just impacted the way we interact within our household, but it has also disrupted the workflow of various industries at multiple levels. This has become all too apparent with the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI). What was once simply a buzzword used by the tech industry has now extended its reach to businesses of varying enterprises–including industrial companies.
The capabilities of AI used to be the stuff of fictional narratives a long time ago. But now, there is absolutely no doubt as to its application in the manufacturing sector. From improved efficiency to more intuitive designs and workflows, AI at the industry has proven itself to hold an indispensable role in the production line of manufacturing companies.
AI & Manufacturing Productivity
Lately, more and more companies are starting to integrate AI solutions into their workflow. So the question now is this: should a manufacturing business jump in on the bandwagon as well? Signs point to yes, and we will discuss the reasons (based on the main merit of increasing productivity) in brief in the section below.
Smart analytics and predictive maintenance
In the manufacturing business, time is money. And this becomes more apparent during downtimes brought by time-consuming, not to mention costly, machine maintenance. The good news is that business owners can easily avoid this with the proper application of AI’s predictive maintenance feature.
The beauty of this sort of technology is that it has the capacity to record and store patterns regarding your equipment. Through smart machine learning technology, it can easily pinpoint glitches (or even predict these) in the system. This way, malfunctions will be better anticipated if not avoided altogether. You can then assign machine maintenance during production downtime, as opposed to taking action only once issues have made themselves more apparent.
Lesser human error
We’re now at an age of expedited services. Consumers expect their wants and needs to be instantly gratified. In turn, manufacturing companies are constantly under fire to create their products at record time. With solely human labor, this becomes a recipe for disaster. We are not, after all, predisposed to producing an inordinate number of products flawlessly. However, AI can.
With the right configurations, machine learning and AI solutions can easily produce more products at less time, and with virtually zero chances of mistakes. This way, companies will be able to build more products without the quality being compromised.
Market anticipation
The problem with manufacturing products at a large scale is that there is no guarantee that these will be successfully disseminated to the market. But this issue can now be a thing of the past with AI technology at the forefront of your business.
Thanks to its predictive algorithm, not only will it alert you of possible machine issues, but it will also scan the market demographic for companies. This includes but will not be limited to psychographics analysis of consumers, current political climate, socioeconomic status, and even geographic influences. All these will be taken into account to approximate how well the market will receive certain products at a given time.
With AI technology supporting companies in this aspect, business owners will be able to anticipate the amount of supply they will take into inventory, the number of products they will produce, and the marketing strategies that they will employ. This way, every business decision is better calculated and backed by data.
The State of AI Today
Despite the improvements that we’ve seen in AI algorithms in recent years, it’s undeniable that AI is still in its infant stages. Small-scale projects have been launched to test out this bold new landscape, but larger enterprises have yet to fully surrender their traditional workflow in lieu of a more machine-centric approach.
Still, despite the need for more case studies on this, AI has shown exceptionally promising benefits to the manufacturing sector in particular. In the coming years, it is anticipated for AI technology to fully integrate into the human experience, including business supply chains.
AI has already made leaps and bounds in revolutionizing the way we interact with technology. Give or take a few more years, its algorithm will eventually transform the production line of manufacturing companies for good.
Sources:
AI Expo, How can artificial intelligence transform manufacturing
Cio, 5 ways industrial AI is revolutionizing manufacturing
Machine Design, How to fit artificial intelligence into manufacturing
