3 Ways AI Improves Manufacturing Intelligence

In a recent manufacturing industry insights survey on artificial intelligence (AI), 44 percent of respondents from the automotive and manufacturing sectors classified AI as "highly important" to the manufacturing function in the next five years, while almost half--49 percent--said it was "absolutely critical to success." Yet, in many cases, AI is hard to comprehend for manufacturers, as the technology industry has painted it with such a wide brush that few actually understand how it becomes instantiated--beyond some omnipotent source delivering better business results. Manufacturers may actually view AI as highly complex and expensive, requiring end-to-end systems throughout their whole company to work properly, and this translates to a costly overhaul of their entire IT/OT operation. The reality is, AI is much more focused and achievable. AI can work on factory floors with minimal construction and get connected to machines via the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).