Dan Pitchford, Co-founder – AI Business
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way we live our lives. From personal assistants like Alexa in our houses to driverless cars, the technology is becoming more ubiquitous by the day. Within work, AI has the power to change the way companies operate.
One sector experiencing real impact from this technology is manufacturing. Business leaders are now talking openly about the likelihood of smart factories, although only 12 percent of manufacturers are actively implementing this technology so far. From moving data to the cloud, to the Internet of Things (IOT), AI will change the way factories are run. There is a concern that this will lead to fewer jobs, but these fears are unfounded: humans will always be essential when it comes to operating and managing factories. It is likely that the implementation of technology will help in providing a more focussed efficient workforce who can work on interesting and creative sides of the manufacturing business.
It is worth investigating where this technology will be implemented and what changes it will bring to manufacturing businesses, employees and customers.
Increased efficiency
Over the centuries, the manufacturing sector has experienced a sea of change. From the introduction of machinery to speed up processes and outputs as part of the Industrial Revolution, to the continued implementation of smart ways of working to keep up with trends and the latest technology. Artificial Intelligence is the latest development that can revolutionise the sector, and so-called smart factories implement it to maximise efficiency. Other manufacturers can learn from this example to understand and implement technology to increase outputs at a significantly faster rate than a human.
The implementation of this technology will allow tasks which were once seen as mundane to be left to robots to undertake. In doing so, it will alleviate day-to-day working pressures on employees and allow them to focus on other more important, rewarding jobs. The technology will be able to learn how to save time, become more efficient and thus allow manufacturing businesses to flourish.
AI is currently being used on monotonous tasks within manufacturing factories, but this will soon advance into systems that are fully involved in workflows which will understand and decide which tasks need to be focussed on without human involvement.
A recent collaboration between Swansea University and packaging manufacturer Crown Holdings Inc focuses on next-generation smart factories, specifically aiming to improve efficiency. The technology will be used to support a process called cyber-manufacturing – linking together data from different machines, creating smart production lines that can adapt to change and recover from failure more quickly. Collaborations of this nature will become more commonplace and will significantly improve efficiency.
If implemented correctly, AI will be able to transform a manufacturing business, from one that relies on employees to do all technical tasks, to one that is investing in technology that will help in future advancements within the factory, creating a continuous cycle of improvement.
Detecting defects
One of the biggest improvements that smart factories will bring to manufacturing is the way that this technology will be able to check for the quality of each part and product that is made. In the past, a group of employees would perform this role. Naturally, due to human error, manufacturing businesses would at times be sending out faulty products due to an inability to detect these issues. Factories that are creating intricate products, such as microchips have begun using machine vision, a product that uses AI and high-resolution cameras to pick out any minute defect which no human would be able to see. These issues or defects are then able to be flagged, taken out of the work flow so that they are not sold to the customer.
Take, for example, LG’s use of ‘Azure Machine Learning’ to predict defects before they arise. It is through these advancements that manufacturing businesses can save money and provide better customer service. Using AI to inspect parts finds on average 90% of defects, while it does not eliminate defective products completely, it immensely alleviates pressures on the business by minimising these issues.
Predictive maintenance
Manufacturing businesses rely heavily on consistent work flows. With ‘just-in-time’ production flows used in many factories, any delay can have huge consequences -not only the business itself, but on customers and other businesses who need products at specific times. Any delay on this can produce huge losses for any manufacturing business, with unplanned downtime costing $50 billion annually. AI can transform this process. Factories can make use of technology to detect and predict delays and problems with machinery before issues arise. It can monitor how machines are running and flag any changes or issues before they become more serious. This will work towards keeping maintenance costs at a minimum, as well as help in forward planning by letting customers and businesses know there may be a delay – managing the business relationship effectively.
Improved customer support
There is no doubt that AI will have huge implications within factories, but this technology will also help in the end-to-end cycle for customers. Manufacturing businesses will be able to add technology to their products to provide a constant data feed to the business. Microsoft have been one of the first businesses to offer this technology to manufacturing businesses offering businesses to evolve their products through IoT and AI. Customers who live remotely will no longer need to wait for someone from the manufacturing business to come and help them repair their product, instead the customer support unit will be able to understand the issue, flag the issue and remotely deal with the issue due to this technology. This will help in saving money for the manufacturing business, while also delivering excellent customer care and service to users who have bought their product.
Through investment into new technologies, manufacturers will see the true potential AI can bring to the sector. AI will change the way that manufacturing businesses not only run their factories, but how they manage and treat their customers. A constant flow of data and understanding means this technology will minimise mistakes, flag issues and create a more efficient and creative work environment. The worry around jobs is of course valid, however if businesses successfully train their employees correctly, it is unlikely that the mass loss of jobs will come to fruition. Instead, manufacturing businesses will see the transformative effects of this technology.
