Significant Potentials of AI and Machine Learning in Manufacturing

Over the past four years, enterprises have reaped some major financial benefits by adopting Machine Learning, an application of Artificial Intelligence. According to reports, Gartner has said that there has been a whopping 270% jump in implementation of AI by companies all over the world.

Of all the various industries that have achieved higher revenues by implementing Machine Learning and AI, the manufacturing sector is expected to enjoy maximum business benefits.

How Can Machine Learning Benefit The Manufacturing Sector?

Major cost savings with automation

With Machine Learning capabilities, a machine does not need to be programmed for specific purposes. It can learn from their experiences and automatically perform human-like tasks. The prime advantage of this automation is that it can carry out repetitive tasks in much lesser time. So in case of managing supply chains in manufacturing, automation can easily free up the human resources and save expenses.

As per estimates by Gartner, AI augmentation and Machine Learning in Manufacturing is expected to save around 6.2 bn man-hours and generate some $2.9T business value by the year 2021. (Source)

Improving operational procedures

Mr. Shohei Hido, Chief Research Officer at Preferred Networks says that with deep reinforcement learning techniques, robots can achieve more than 90% accuracy within 8 hours of practicing a specific task. Machine Learning Applications can shorten the learning curve and create job-readiness overnight. (Source)

However, the benefits of Machine Learning is more than improving speed and efficiency. In the near future manufacturing plants can be trained to respond quickly to dynamic instructions instead of working on standardization. (Source)

Besides, it can also be used to reduce accidents in the factories by identifying possible worker hazards.

Improves the quality of manufacturing

One of the significant potentials of Machine Learning in business lies in improving the quality of products that are manufactured. It is also being extensively used to shorten the time taken to manufacture a product.

For instance, German multinational Siemens has adopted AI techniques in manufacturing their high-performing turbines. In order to reduce the harmful gas emissions from these turbines, research scientists have carried out various experiments and achieved a partial level of success. But after implementing AI, such harmful emissions could be reduced further by almost 10 to 15%. (Source)

Boosts customer relationships

What if businesses can provide their clients without having them ask for it first? For instance, if a manufacturing company can warn its customers of potential problems that might arise and how they can deal with it, it will definitely bring positive business and recognition. It can also open up newer opportunities to generate more revenue.

And the good news is that machine learning is also being used to achieve such feats nowadays. With remote monitoring and information-collecting capabilities, (of course with customer’s consent) manufacturing companies are leveraging machine learning benefits in innovative ways today.

Conclusion

Machine Learning in Manufacturing has already proved to be a game-changer. With continuous advancements, it will surely open up more ways of achieving excellence in the manufacturing sector.