Artificial Intelligence (AI) is technology that empowers and leverages computers and other types of machines to imitate the human mind’s ability to solve problems and make decisions. However, contrary to the narrative of science fiction writers, the novelty and the utility of this type of technology is not its ability to “replace” humans. Instead, it is its ability to supercharge and scale human-like insight. This is how artificial intelligence transforms traditional manufacturing industries.
This can include everything from speech recognition to customer service. It also involves the ability to recognize and act on gathered information. Moreover, it can make recommendations based on trends and the synthesis of all types of disparate information.
Key Takeaways
- Artificial Intelligence transforms industries by enhancing human decision-making and problem-solving capabilities.
- AI plays a similar role to the industrial revolution, supercharging processes and allowing for faster, more efficient operations.
- Unlike humans, AI platforms like Helios can analyze vast amounts of data tirelessly, spotting inefficiencies and scheduling maintenance effectively.
- AI is revolutionizing various sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, education, and more, by optimizing operations and processing data swiftly.
- The integration of AI leads to increased productivity, reduced downtime, and higher profits across traditional manufacturing industries.
AI in the fourth age
What AI is doing for businesses and society in the twenty-first century is akin to what the industrial revolution did in the eighteenth century. Before the advent of machines, all work had to be done by hand. This meant that progress was arduous and tedious. It required manpower and constant time-on-task to accomplish anything. When Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, the process of cleaning cotton lint was supercharged. What was once the work of hours and hours of labor could suddenly be done in minutes with minimal effort. Today, machines are an integral part of every industry. Without their utility, it would be impossible to meet the demands of the world’s economy.
Artificial intelligence transforms traditional manufacturing industries on the verge of a similar revolution. However, in this case, it is not augmenting the limits of human hands. Rather, it enhances the limits of human minds. In operations at scale, there are thousands of decisions that must be made every minute. This can mean everything from observing and acting on trends. Additionally, it involves making educated decisions about how to handle certain situations and predicting or reacting to problems either before or as they arise.
Humans excel at this ability, which separates us from animals, but our attention span, bandwidth, and, simply put, our humanity limit our capacity to make observations, generate insights, and make decisions.
Take a corrugated manufacturing facility, for example. Every day in a box plant, machines generate hundreds of thousands of data points. Synchronous operations take place in hundreds of processes. Moreover, teams must solve dozens of problems, such as deciding when to perform machine maintenance, organizing processes, and handling situations when something is not working correctly.
With this constant stream of information to synthesize in a limited amount of time, it is impossible for one person or even a team of people to react optimally to all of these situations. So, before AI, the only course of action was to do the best they could do in their capacity.
The disruptive power of AI
But AI changed everything. Unlike a human, an AI platform, like Helios, which is the corrugated industry’s Machine Learning and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform, is tireless and not limited by attention span or bandwidth. While a human brain doesn’t have the capacity or the processing power to pore over all of the data generated by the corrugated manufacturing machines, or to observe every anomaly that could indicate an impending breakdown, Helios does. Helios collects and analyzes every anomaly that takes place on the manufacturing floor. This ranges from an unusual noise or shudder to a jam in one of the machines. It can even be something as subtle as a slight dip in output rate that the human eye could easily miss.
With all of this information, Helios optimizes the facility’s operations. It does this by noticing otherwise imperceptible inefficiencies. Additionally, it uses its corpus of knowledge to schedule maintenance for machines in a way that extends their lifespans. This process prevents catastrophic failures and breakdowns before they even happen. Corrugated manufacturing plants maximize their productivity and minimize loss and downtime by combining the reasoning and logic skills of a human brain with the tireless energy and attention to detail of a computer. Ultimately, this leads to much higher profits and even the potential to grow and scale operations to new heights.
Artificial Intelligence transforms
AI can supercharge traditional manufacturing industries, such as corrugated manufacturing. This is achieved by uncoupling processes and insights from the bandwidth and attention span of the humans in charge. Nearly every vertical has inefficiencies. These can be spotted and corrected. In addition, there are voluminous data streams that AI can synthesize and act upon. The end goal is a more effective, more efficient operation. Some of the industries in the midst of or on the cusp of AI revolutions include education, healthcare, agriculture, customer service, supply chain management, manufacturing, energy, information technology, and software development. Be on the lookout for how artificial intelligence transforms traditional manufacturing industries.
