AI And Manufacturing: 5 Ways AI Is Improving Manufacturing In 2021

The manufacturing industry is amid a technological revolution powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Frequently faced with several challenges such as defective product delivery, inefficient quality control, and inventory discrepancies, manufacturers have had to dip their toes into the AI water.

As a manufacturer, the thought of how you can improve manufacturing operations is always at the forefront of your mind, and AI could be an excellent solution. Still, you’re on the fence about implementing the technology because of either privacy or security concerns that come with it.

I have been there too.

How did I get past the indecision?

After thorough research and consultation with experts, it dawned on me: the benefits of using artificial intelligence in manufacturing are way MORE than the concerns. 

If anything, a lack of incorporating AI into your manufacturing business model may render your business null and void in a few years.

If you have no clue where to begin such a huge undertaking, keep reading and you will discover 5 impressive applications of artificial intelligence in manufacturing in 2021.

1. Inventory Management

Why is there a discrepancy in the inventory?

This is a question many industry professionals secretly dread.

As a professional in manufacturing, I understand how difficult inventory management is. With the fluctuating demand and supply of products, keeping an accurate inventory is quasi-impossible.

Nonetheless, you can manage your inventory levels better and AVOID discrepancies via AI-powered tools.

With AI’s ability to harness and analyze data, its use in inventory management can aid in forecasting the demand of your products based on historical experience. Knowledge of this is crucial in determining whether to upscale or scale down on production.

Additionally, an inventory management system optimized by artificial intelligence allows for shorter customer lead times. Presented with an ACCURATE inventory, you will be able to manage customer orders more efficiently and faster.

No more misalignment in your supply and demand cycle.

I will let you read that again.

The benefits of an intelligent inventory management system are endless. Increased ROI, enhanced customer relationships, and cost savings are some that should strike your fancy.

I kid you not, using AI for inventory management will help you avoid bad decisions in your production and also show you patterns that could drive you into new investments.

2. Digital Twins

Digital twins is an impressive application of artificial intelligence in manufacturing in 2021. It is a virtual replica of physical entities such as products, people, processes, or systems.

With this application, manufacturers stand higher chances of enhancing their understanding of products and systems through experiments with virtual models. 

It allows for feasibility tests of products before their launch; allowing the manufacturers to decide whether or not the product is feasible.

If this isn’t a spot-on risk management scenario, I don’t know what is.

A study by Deloitte anticipates that the market growth of digital twins will reach $16 billion by 2023. This is enough to tell you that the application is impressive and will soon take the manufacturing industry by storm if it has not already.

Besides, manufacturers can leverage digital twins to create enhanced customer experiences by doing design customization. They can then personalize products and services to suit the exact needs of their clients.

To top it off, digital twins replicating real-world processes can predict potential downtimes of machines and enable the engineers to take required actions before the equipment breaks down.

The knock-on effect of this is an increased ROI, an enhanced customer experience, and efficient risk management.

3. Quality Assurance

Imagine launching a product to the market only to receive a lot of backlashes concerning its safety risk and its defects. The thought of this makes you cringe inside.

No need to worry.

The application of artificial intelligence in manufacturing is fast becoming a norm in ensuring quality control. It has revolutionized how maintenance, inspections, and assembly are done. This is spearheaded by machine vision technology, an application of AI.

To get into detail about how AI improves these manufacturing processes, among many others, consider this AI tutorial below. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the first thing about artificial intelligence, you can learn AI even if you are a beginner with these engaging Udemy courses. 

In essence, AI through quality control tools has provided a set of extra eyes and ears in the entire process.

You no longer have to deal with product defects and recalls. According to AGCS, a corporate insurance carrier, defective product incidents have resulted in insured losses of almost $2 billion in the past five years.

As a manufacturer, avoiding such losses is paramount for the GROWTH of your business. You also need to protect your brand and producing defective products is a sure way of killing it.

You will predict which products have the tendencies of being defective before they are sent to the market. You can then find the root cause of the problem and correct the defects, saving your business from massive repercussions.

So, take the reactive approach and incorporate artificial intelligence into your quality assurance processes.

4. Robotics Automation

Do your technicians look tired all the time? Are they unenthusiastic about their day-to-day activities?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, stick with me.

Your technicians are probably doing mundane tasks which elicit NO excitement from them. Picture this, picking and placing parts of equipment for days on end is a task that is definitely bound to bore you.

To be honest, even you would look tired all the time.

But wait – there’s good news.

Manufacturing robots in a wider concept known as robotics process automation, have been used in the manufacturing industry for decades.

The terrain shift from conventional robots to AI-powered robots was a game-changer for the manufacturing industry. This robot has the ability to gauge its own accuracy and performance and consequently train itself to perform better.

These robots will AUTOMATE repetitive tasks such as product inspection, welding, die casting, grinding, or drilling. They will also alleviate human error in such operations, saving your business from any repercussions that would have been caused by the errors.

It gets better; the robots have computer vision technology that guarantees precise mobility in complex and dangerous environments. 

Your technicians do not have to risk their lives while working. The robots, encompassed with computer vision, can perform tasks that have a chance of compromising the safety of the workers.

Occupational health safety is a vital part of any industry that should be valued and prioritized to ensure operational efficiency as well as a comfortable working environment.

This impressive application of artificial intelligence in manufacturing will guarantee that your employees focus on areas of operations that are more productive and impactful.  

They will in turn be MORE enthusiastic about their jobs.

5. Edge Analytics

If you work in the manufacturing sector, it is no secret that you generate and collect tons of data every day. To many, this data is just that; data.

But for pragmatic manufacturers like ourselves, we understand the power of data, especially in this digital age.

With artificial intelligence, edge analytics is a possible endeavor. Your data will no longer be ‘just data’, but a gold mine.

Edge analytics involves the acquisition, analysis, and computation of gathered data at the source itself as opposed to the central data repository.

So, what am I saying?

Edge analytics enabled by artificial intelligence eliminates the reliance on a central system to perform analytics. This ensures real-time derivation of meaningful insights that enable you to either:

• make product alterations,
• enhance operational efficiency or,
• cut costs whilst increasing your ROI.

Activities such as product quality assurance, worker safety, and sales require constant monitoring and tracking. Manufacturing practitioners have resorted to using embedded sensors for data collection as opposed to manual processes.

Sensor technology incorporated with artificial intelligence enables manufacturing units to gain real intelligence instantaneously.

Think of all the good that comes with this.

How much did your last downtime cost you? What if you had prior knowledge about the downtime?

With the impressive application of artificial intelligence in manufacturing through edge analytics and sensor technology, you do not need to deal with losses caused by downtimes. You will know beforehand that your equipment’s life cycle is up and that it is most likely to break down.

I am sure you’ll appreciate the heads-up more after it hits you how much money you will save by replacing the equipment before it results in downtime.

Conclusion

You should no longer be on the fence about incorporating AI into your manufacturing processes. What you should be doing is creating a roadmap of how you are going to implement these intelligent solutions into your manufacturing business models

Thanks to the 5 impressive applications of artificial intelligence in manufacturing in 2021, you have a place to start your endeavor of incorporating the technology into your business model.

You are assured of reduced inventory costs, alleviated downtime costs, reduced maintenance cost, and consequently an increased ROI.

As if that is not enough, you have the ability to enhance your customer experience and venture into new investments as per the insights you will receive from these intelligent solutions.