The thriving manufacturing sector is one of the biggest beneficiaries of AI technology. The constant endeavor of manufacturers to identify patterns and solve problems gets an advantage of AI app development services. AI-based apps are useful for improving OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) and increasing uptime significantly. Also, AI technology can enhance quality while offering better forecasting in the manufacturing industries.
As a major component of digital transformation solutions, AI can enable manufacturers to leverage the benefits of Industry 4.0 while combining with other emerging technologies. In this post, we are going to discuss five effective ways AI can revolutionize core processes of the manufacturing sector in the year 2022. We will also have a glimpse of the future of AI in manufacturing.
Five Ways AI Brings Revolution in the Manufacturing Sector
- Supply Chain Optimization
Effective supply chain management holds a key to growth for the manufacturing industry. However, supply chains have become super complex these days and manufacturers find it difficult to manage with hundreds of different locations. Here, AI ensures effective, 360-degree management of supply chains while handling in-house inventory management.
When it comes to the manufacturing sector, the production line relies heavily on inventory to continue production. Every process requires a certain amount of components to work well, and once those components are consumed, it is necessary to replenish them on time to keep the process continue. AI can lend a helping hand in managing component quantities and optimizing the distribution throughout the floor.
- Production Optimization
Process optimization involves several complex tasks based on countless historical data sets. It makes it difficult to find which process parameters have produced the best quality product. Here, the Design of Experiments and other traditional ways to optimize process parameters remain time-consuming and costly for manufacturers.
AI can enable engineers and manufacturers to find the optimized process stage for different products. What’s more, AI, as a part of digital transformation solutions, can learn continuously from all production data points to improve various process parameters. In a way, AI in the manufacturing sector can optimize the production lifecycle.
- Yield Prediction
It is a major factor to consider while integrating AI in the manufacturing sector. A high accuracy prediction AI model can give businesses higher ROI. Predicting yield based on AI can enable manufacturers to prepare for managing supply chain and inventory more efficiently. Supply chain and inventory management can remain effective as you can get the estimate of future component needs. If yield is lower than expected, then it can send an alert to the production management for increasing production time to meet the demand, and vice versa.
Yield prediction is a complex problem that needs heavy data and accurate analysis. Therefore, manufacturers need the assistance of AI app development services to solve it.
- Energy Management
Energy management is necessary for cost-saving and sustainability. However, this area remains mostly overlooked as engineers do not have the time to analyze the cost related to the energy consumption of the manufacturing plant. Here, AI can lend a helping hand. It can look into energy consumption at the production facility and contribute to reducing operational costs significantly. This reduced cost can facilitate manufacturers to allocate more funds for improving processes that can further lead to higher yield and better quality.
- Predictive and Preventive Maintenace
This is one of the major benefits of AI technology. Downtime costs a lot for manufacturing plants and can lead to equipment damage as well. It is possible to prevent such failure or unexpected downtime by following up on the machines as per the preventive maintenance schedule. With the combination of IoT and machine learning algorithms, manufactures can get real-time notifications for predictive maintenance and possible issues related to equipment.
Future Scope of AI in Manufacturing Industry
It is fair to mention that AI is here to stay. As manufacturers will become more adept at deploying AI-based solutions and technology evolves, we will see more penetration in the sector. Though what’s next for this technology will be varied based on several factors, we can certainly assume that the manufacturing sector will emerge as a successful adopter of AI.
Let’s dig deep into these factors that can decide the future course for AI app development services in the manufacturing sector.
Process Maturity- Manufacturers need to review AI output regularly to ensure that their processes run properly. When they get ready to improve business processes using AI, we can consider it as process maturity.
Connected Analytics- In the manufacturing sector, analytics drives the learning and automation aspects of AI. In other words, machine learning (ML), a subset of AI, can make analytics mature and useful for manufacturers.
AI Oversight- Companies that want to leverage many benefits of AI tend to have more robust oversight processes. Manufacturers have made good progress in this area so far while keeping up with AI advances and deployments in their plants.
Confidence in AI- Organizations with the successful implementation of AI technology are more than twice as likely to trust on AI for using it ethically in the future. One such example is manufacturers.
In a nutshell, AI deployment through digital transformation solutions and other ways is accelerating rapidly in the manufacturing sector. As AI app development services will advance, we will witness the advent of more sophisticated and reliable solutions in the manufacturing sector. One of the examples is the combination of AI technology with AR and VR.
Virtual Reality (VR) can help manufacturers perform preventive maintenance-related tasks that are powered by AI. Augmented Reality (AR) can provide real-time reporting on the factory floor or in the field for machine learning technology. As major manufacturing companies tend to integrate these visual technologies for remote monitoring and assistance, AI is all set to work wonders.
Based on historical data, predictive analysis of AI together with the machine learning concept, manufacturers can get maintenance time and information about any damage in advance. In a way, AI integration in AR and VR-powered devices can assist manufacturers to work proactively to reduce unwanted downtime and decrease maintenance costs.
In a nutshell, AI can take the manufacturing sector to a new level while opening the doors of new opportunities and innovation. In the coming years, we will witness radical changes in this sector with AI-driven digital transformation solutions.
