Ramprakash Ramamoorthy gives three reasons why AI is the future for manufacturing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has impacted a substantial number of processes in the manufacturing industry, with computer vision, a field of AI that trains computers to interpret and understand the visual world, being the most used technique. Deploying AI-based computer vision on the production line makes it possible to see things in microscopic detail, bringing superhuman capabilities to quality control. For instance, using AI to spot small but costly paint job imperfections in car manufacturing can dramatically improve quality control – adding significant value.
As the use cases for AI within manufacturing grow beyond computer vision and AI’s value is more widely recognized, global adoption of AI in the manufacturing market is projected to grow from $513.6 million in 2017 to $15,273.7 million in 2025. As businesses prepare to enter a post-pandemic marketplace, adopting a forward-thinking, AI-first approach will be key to future success. Here are the three areas in which AI will have the most impact:

Health and safety
AI can deliver real value by monitoring health and safety, in relation to both the people working on the factory floor and the machines they are working with. In this situation, AI can monitor movement and help to avoid accidents and dangerous interactions between humans and machines. Computer vision techniques can be deployed to count the number of people available on the manufacturing floor; and in a post-Covid world where workplace social distancing is essential, AI will be vital in ensuring adherence to new and existing health and safety regulations.

Powerful optical character recognition (OCR) engines can also be deployed within the manufacturing line to convert typed or handwritten content into machine readable, editable formats. This allows the machines to read and understand the text so that track and trace tools can be deployed to post-production.

Additionally, computer vision is helping with the physical inspection of machines as well as controlling their calibration and tuning, and monitoring their health. Monitoring the health of machines means looking at many parameters and finding any anomalous combinations that could potentially cause downtime.

According to a study by Oneserve, three per cent of all working days are lost annually in manufacturing due to faulty machinery and the impact of machine downtime is costing Britain’s manufacturers more than £180bn every year. Therefore, the ability to predict which pieces of equipment require maintenance before the machine becomes unusable will help to reduce or completely avoid machine downtime; improving productivity and saving significant amounts of money.

Sustainability
A further benefit AI can bring the manufacturing industry is increased sustainability as it enables better utilization of resources, which helps manufacturers become more efficient. As production slowly starts to pick up again after a three-month hiatus, manufacturers are navigating the unprecedented situation of having to manufacture to demand for the foreseeable future, and efficiency will be critical. By determining which units are underutilized and which are consuming large amounts of power, AI can then recommend the optimized way to run those machines to help reduce energy consumption; environmental impact and costs.

Probability over determinism
Traditionally, the manufacturing industry has relied heavily on deterministic processes. As AI becomes more prevalent, however, it requires them to shift their approach and rely, at least partly, on probability. That shift could prove challenging.

AI brings in an element of probability to the workflow and the industry must embrace this change to see its value. For example, a production line could have a standard operating procedure for machine downtime, but its new AI system may predict a 60 per cent chance of downtime. This prediction, therefore, requires processes and hierarchies to be reworked to accommodate the 60 per cent downtime probability.

While this necessitates a change, manufacturers can make this more manageable by applying a probabilistic approach to one workflow at a time and ensure it seeps through to their employees to fully embed this new way of working – weathering any initial difficulties to focus on the long-term value.

While it’s clear that AI will disrupt the manufacturing industry, it will do so for the better. It will help manufacturers improve their ability to avoid failures and downtime, optimize processes and machines, increase sustainability, improve quality control, and monitor the health and safety of employees who are navigating the strange, post-pandemic workplace of the future.

As AI is used to automate more processes, it will help to avoid accidents and reduce human error. However, it’s important manufacturers see it as a way to augment human workers, rather than replace them. After all, with many organizations using black-box AI, which can inform them of decisions, but not the reasons behind them, having a human in the loop is vital to ensure the decisions are founded.

Even as enterprises adopt explainable AI—AI that can explain its decisions to humans and thereby improve its trustworthiness—humans still form a vital part of the process as these decisions can then be worked on by a team, rather than an individual. Ultimately, AI is going to disrupt not only the processes involved with manufacturing, but it will also disrupt the mindsets and approaches adopted by those within the industry.

Ramprakash Ramamoorthy is product manager at ManageEngine and Zoho Labs -he leads the AI & Blockchain efforts for Zoho Corporation. Ramprakash has been instrumental in setting up Zoho's AI platform from scratch and comes with a rich 8+ years of experience in building AI for the enterprises at Zoho. The AI platform currently serves over a million requests an hour and is growing strong.
ManageEngine is the enterprise IT management division of Zoho Corporation. Established and emerging enterprises – including 9 of every 10 Fortune 100 organizations - rely on its real-time IT management tools to ensure optimal performance of their IT infrastructure, including networks, servers, applications, desktops and more.
www.manageengine.com/uk/

Lessons from World War II on Manufacturing and the Covid-19 Pandemic. By Eric Stoop

Current discussions of the effect of the global Covid-19 pandemic are teeming with references to World War II, and the similarities prove there is a valuable lesson to be learnt. At the beginning of the UK lockdown, during a public broadcast, Queen Elizabeth II urged the population to adopt the same discipline and resolve that the people had shown during the war.

A look at manufacturing and the Covid-19 pandemic shows the comparison to WWII is an apt one. From victory gardens to discussions of shared sacrifice to ramping up production of critical supplies, the parallels between the health crisis and WWII are hard to ignore.

And while that generation was asked to leave their homes to fight or join the war effort, people today are being asked to stay at home to prevent the spread of the virus.

What lessons can manufacturers learn from WWII, and what do they need to do to survive the coming changes? In this post, we’re looking back through the lens of history to examine the answers to these questions and help companies chart a strategic path forward.

Pivoting Production Can Mean Faster Recovery
Many manufacturing heroes have already pivoted production to needed supplies such as ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitiser. While drivers include practical considerations like filling gaps in revenue, it’s also about the common good.

First and foremost, these changes in production are undoubtedly saving lives by helping overcome critical hospital shortages. They’re also keeping workers employed who might otherwise be furloughed due to a drop in demand or supply chain disruptions.

What’s also true, however, is that making these bold changes can help us all recover more quickly from the crisis and become better equipped to tackle future threats. Because the faster companies can manufacture supplies, treatments and even vaccines, the faster we can overcome this invisible enemy—and be better prepared for any second wave.

Employees Will Need to Fill New Roles
The second world war saw a massive influx of new workers in manufacturing as the country quickly shifted into high gear to produce airplanes, carriers and other equipment. In today’s environment, it’s similarly clear that employees will have to pivot to new roles they may be unfamiliar with.

In addition to changes in production, there’s also the fact that manufacturers will likely be dealing with lower staff density due to social distancing as well as potential spikes in absenteeism.

What can manufacturers do to prepare for this reality?

• Start preparing now for where you need to cross-train employees and how to deliver that information quickly and effectively
• Implement verification processes to prevent and detect quality issues that arise from lack of experience with a given production process
• Make succession planning a priority to ensure continuity when key individuals aren’t at work

This last point is especially important in the context of what comes after the crisis has abated. While millions are unemployed now, a rebound in hiring could eventually increase poaching for top talent. However, companies can’t afford to be caught with key positions unfilled when trying to regain productivity levels.

If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail
Before the onset of WWII, the UK was far from ready for the conflict. In 1939, the British Army was a small, volunteer professional army, with limited weapons which had suffered defeat at every war it was deployed to.

In September of 1939, the British Army had a total of 892,697 officers, compared to the end of the war which saw almost three million men having served for their country. It’s of no surprise that the British were woefully unprepared for a war in the beginning, with multiple enemies on all fronts.

In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, the parallel is unmistakable: failure to plan is the same as planning to fail. The writing is on the wall, both in health and economic terms. Manufacturers must plan now for a potential second wave of the virus, with many companies already preparing pandemic plans for just such an occurrence. Reducing operational costs with tools such as layered process audits to combat waste and improve process efficiency will be key to surviving economic changes.

Things Are Going to Look Different
WWII changed everything, driving recovery from one of Britain’s biggest economic recessions, while putting the UK on a trajectory for massive social change (not least of all by giving women a chance to be part of industries they had not previously worked in).

While we don’t yet know what awaits after the crisis is over, experts agree that things won’t be the same once the widespread lockdowns have ended. Handshaking may be out permanently. Remote work and tele-health are in.

For manufacturers, reliance on globalised supply chains and just-in-time manufacturing will be called into question. The case for digital transformation has never been stronger, allowing manufacturers to achieve greater levels of efficiency with fewer resources.

Experts at McKinsey have deemed it the next normal, saying leaders must “reassess their entire business system and plan for contingent actions in order to return their business to effective production at pace and at scale.”

Versatility will be key to survival, just as quality will be integral to the ultimate success or failure of any new manufacturing initiative.

The story of WWII is one of not just heroism, but also industrial power. Just as the manufacturing boom helped lead the UK out of a crisis, manufacturers today are similarly poised to help move the country forward after the crisis.

Eric Stoop is CEO of Ease, the innovative mobile platform that helps manufacturers simplify how they administer, conduct and respond to plant floor audits. With best-in-class support for layered process audits, safety, 5S and more – EASE drastically reduces labour costs and delivers insights that ensure audit programs drive real business value. Leading automotive, aerospace and manufacturing organizations around the globe depend on EASE’s enterprise scale, expertise and customer-centricity. EASE Inc. is a privately held company based in Mission Viejo, California.

https://www.ease.io