Artificial intelligence (AI) has increasingly become part of our working lives. The manufacturing industry is in no way exempt from that- by 2023, the value of AI was projected to reach 4,882.9 million within manufacturing. Is there any wonder, then, as to why companies are aiming to bolster their business with AI? Should you be doing so? In this week’s article, we’ll be running through key ways that AI will change the face of the manufacturing industry.
Research and investment
AI will call for a new, collaborative way of working on both the company and industry levels. While certain processes are company specific, certain processes such as user interface and product inspection are areas of common ground. At this point in time, most AI specialists are unfamiliar with the manufacturing industry. Particular areas such as steel production are incredibly complex for a newcomer. That’s why larger metal manufacturing companies must start collaborating with smaller tech startups. Through working together, companies within manufacturing may be able to find new, meaningful ways to include AI in their day-to-day and achieve greater results than ever before.
Uncovering new ways to improve
AI is completely revolutionary, as it forces us to think about work and production is vastly different ways than ever before. It’s important to begin with existing problems, and to then posit how AI may tackle these challenges. But from there, it’s uncharted territory. The ways in which AI could propel this industry forward remain unseen, as it requires creativity and flexibility of approach. Some experts suggest that one area in which AI could provide enormous benefit is within data collection. At the moment, classification for particular metals within the industry are lacking, but with AI, that could improve. What should be remembered, though, is that the implementation of AI within the workplace would require additional roles such as data analysts.
Problem mining
As we’ve discussed, the potential benefits of AI remain unseen- that’s why it’s so important to open our minds to the potential of what this technology could mean. One way to do this is to conduct problem mining; this involves defining a problem and its solution in a systematic way so that future tasks are tackled more easily. Traditionally, people have been behind solving problems, but as AI takes over this task for us, it’s about defining problems, collecting the right data and managing the technological systems in place.
If you’re looking for a complete overhaul or to simply replace some parts, Acra’s your one stop shop. We stock a dynamic range of new and used sheet metal manufacturing machinery including pressbrakes. To learn more about our capabilities, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us by calling 03 9794 6675.