Someone must have asked the factory machineries to ‘go get a life’. They are at it and you will soon be seeing them learn and adapt on the go, in a factory close by. These machines will be able to think and act in the ‘best interest’ of the business.
Welcome to the world of AI in manufacturing.
Factories are going to be cool & manufacturing is going to get cooler. Go to the modern factories and will already see the changes happening – intelligence getting coded.
Predictive maintenance – as against fixed schedule maintenance – is taking shape. This is where AI-driven systems analyzes data inputs received by embedded sensors to predict failures in advance and take remedial steps.
With the AI intervention, Quality Check is not a sampling/random checks activity. AI systems have the ability to do real-time physical checks of each unit produced, spotting even minutest of defects and rejecting such units seamlessly.
AI-driven processes have made customisation easier – they not being much different from standardised production manufacturing.
From the maintenance stand-point, AI has much to offer. Systems can be trained to (a) predict spare parts damage in advance and (b) order spare parts on its own. AI can bring in dynamism to the production process by customising the production lines based on the orders booked, rejections and other related parameters.
The stake holders in an AI-driven model are concerned of matters concerning data privacy, workforce redundancy, business ethics. These are expected to be resolved as the technology gets sharper. And that’s when AI in manufacturing will be cool, cooler and coolest.
