AI: Changing Industry as we know it
Author : Martin Walder, VP of Industry at Schneider Electric
01 April 2019
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Industry 4.0 and associated technology, such as IoT, AI and robotics, have become part of the manufacturing vernacular, without many understanding their potential. Digital transformation offers great unmatched potential for manufacturers. Not only does it greatly improve communication between devices, systems and personnel both inside and outside of the company, but it also cuts energy consumption, increases efficiency, and increasingly delivers even short-term ROI.
Artificial Intelligence is one technology that will revolutionise the field. A recent report by Accenture showed corporate profits are said to increase by an average of 38% by 2035, thanks to the advanced deployment of Artificial Intelligence into financial, IT, and manufacturing applications.
In the UK, we’re at the earliest stages of AI implementation. We lack in clarity as to its deployment across multiple use cases. However, many organisations are evaluating potential risk and reward scenarios, and the technology is becoming more widespread. Investing early, as with Digital Transformation pay dividends, but there are some crucial lessons to follow.
AI: A new way for humans and machines to work together
AI has the potential to exponentially increase the productivity of our industrial assets. It represents a new way for humans and machines to work together in industrial applications. However, in these scenarios, many variables need to be accounted for in order to achieve a successful and competitive outcome.
On the factory floor, AI technology enables us to learn and predict tendencies to solve complex problems. For example, managing a process with almost countless variables, such as control of temperatures, pressures and liquid flows, is very prone to error. In almost all factory settings, there are too many variables for any human brain to analyse successfully. By implementing AI, crucial operational decisions can be supported in real-time, greatly improving safety, security, efficiency and productivity.
The quality of the data that trains the AI algorithms needs to be combined with the human expertise, which is always needed for interpretation and guidance. For example, in the Food & Bev industry, AI can improve quality inspection, providing humans with vision analysis and sound analysis which goes beyond the ability of a human alone.
Revolutionising Industry 4.0
AI is becoming an important part of Industry 4.0. It brings with it the great potential for innovation to dramatically increase the productivity of industrial assets, better manage the evolution of the workforce, and greater energy efficiency.
Let’s take discrete and process manufacturing as an example. Here, asset maintenance is one of the industrial processes that is emerging as an early AI application. As a result, we’re seeing more manufacturers understand that predictive maintenance can be blended with the more traditional approach or preventative maintenance. The two, work hand-in-hand.
A great example of how AI is revolutionising Industry 4.0 and improving efficiencies on the factory floor is Variable Speed Drives (VSDs). VSDs are connected to motors on the factory floor. They attain data and insights into abnormal behaviours and thus flag these issues so that they can be repaired, or where necessary, replaced. The benefit here is that a piece of equipment on the factory floor is only replaced when absolutely necessary, saving the manufacturer money and reducing operational downtime. Machine learning also comes into play here. It can be executed at the edge to help in the early identification of many potential faults including, power generation turbine blade damage or plant motor coupling approaching failure.
Going forward, it’s clear then that the Industry needs to consider the advantages of automation through the use of robotics, machine-learning and artificial intelligence. With the ability to work 24-hours a day and produce a consistent output – it really is a no brainer.
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