AI has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing. Consider the example of changing over production from one product to another at a manufacturing site. Typically a labor-intensive, time-consuming process, a changeover might require flexible robotics to handle different products, automated guided vehicles to move materials and parts, and more. According to senior partner Enno de Boer and coauthors, generative AI and related technologies could orchestrate such a changeover in a single click.
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A 5-part interactive of a production site demonstrates how AI empowers machine intelligence to coordinate highly complex technologies for rapid results.
- Machine intelligence “conducts” an orchestra of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, maintaining system timing, sequencing, and responsiveness.
- Wearables and devices give critical alerts to technicians based on real-time data.
- Flexible robotics are designed to be easily reprogrammed so that they can handle multiple, diverse products.
- Integrated systems, including the manufacturing execution system and distributed control system, inform and control all machines needed to make the next product.
- Cloud and edge hosts connect all systems wirelessly and execute critical computations.
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To read the article, see “Adopting AI at speed and scale: The 4IR push to stay competitive,” February 21, 2024.