Artificial intelligence or AI in manufacturing is an explosively evolving market. When you say that AI could be used in manufacturing, most people might immediately think about robots operating on the shop floor or entirely unmanned assembly lines. While this is also true with respect to integration of AI solutions for manufacturing, there is so much more than can be done with this technology.
Why is AI Penetrating the Manufacturing sector?
Any domain where accuracy is key would benefit from technologies that reduce the chances of errors. Also, when there is strenuous work involved, machines can be used to reduce human efforts. Both these are true with the manufacturing sector. It can be used to meet both these requirements. AI based automation has revolutionised factories small and big.
AI Solutions for Manufacturing – The Advantages You Should Know About
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Predictive maintenance scheduling to avoid expensive repairs
In a traditional workplace, maintenance schedules are created based on machine running cycles and other traditional parameters. But there tends to be operation-based degradation in machines which can be continuously monitored with the help of sensors. Data gathered by these sensors can be processed by machine learning algorithms to identify anomalies and thus plan a maintenance or repair routine before any component fails. This avoids delays caused due to machine breakdown and costs incurred due to unprecedented repairs.
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Design optimisation made more practical
AI solutions incorporated at the design stage can save a lot of money for the manufacturing businesses. Right at the conceptual stage AI-based simulation would give results close to the real world implementation of the design. This helps businesses plan their machinery and tweak the designs for a more efficient manufacturing process. This can also identify possible production defects even before production starts and also improve the efficiency of testing.
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Efficient inventory planning
One place where there is a huge room for error would be inventory planning. There are too many parameters involved when it comes to maintenance of the raw material inventory in a manufacturing plant. An AI platform can be used to create a smart tool that can take inputs from varied sources. Storage conditions, capacity of the storage plant, required quantity for the production line, capacity of the finished product inventory can all be analysed with the help of this tool. This helps factories plan an efficient use of their machines wfhile handling multiple orders simultaneously. While this can be done manually as well, it can be quite tedious. AI solutions for manufacturing help in eliminating queues and identifying the optimum path for delay-free manufacturing cycles.
Besides all of this, you can also have an enterprise AI platform that connects the manufacturing unit with the rest of the workflow for essential automation in crucial transactions. Decisions that involve more than one team can all be streamlined by using machine learning algorithms to populate relevant data and consolidate the essential parameters so that everyone involved would be able to make sense of the reports. This helps in better corporate decisions on the whole, for the manufacturing businesses.
