(Source: Rootstock article: “AI in Manufacturing: Revolutionizing Efficiency & Innovation”)

Manufacturers specifically are starting to realize how the different types of AI can be used in manufacturing. AI is already being used to automate processes and routine tasks, create more accurate forecasts, improve predictive maintenance, improve logistics, sniff out potential errors, and so much more.

Use Cases: AI in Manufacturing Examples
Predictive maintenance is a hot topic for how AI is used in manufacturing. Manufacturers typically spend much effort and money to optimize predictive maintenance schedules to minimize downtimes and maximize production efficiency and equipment utilization. AI can analyze real-time equipment data, weight it against past performance, repair and manufacturing costs, and delivery timelines, and generate optimal predictive maintenance schedules to maximize profits, efficiency, and more.

Quality control and defect detection
Quality control is based a lot on statistics, meaning there is an acceptable, albeit minimal, number of defects that make it through to customers. AI applications in manufacturing can analyze scrap, quality, customer, operations, equipment, and even visual data from cameras to monitor 100% of products and catch defects that a human might miss.

Supply chain optimization and demand forecasting
Optimizing the supply chain is an unrelenting and continuous effort for manufacturers, which makes it one of the most prominent AI use cases in manufacturing. Because AI works thousands of times faster and can analyze exponentially more data than any human ever could, it can capture data from suppliers, logistics providers, quality control, operations, sales, customer service, and more, all with just one goal in mind: getting products to customers efficiently.

Intelligent inventory management
Inventory is a critical yet expensive cost of doing business. Minimizing those costs while maximizing efficiency is a perfect example of the artificial intelligence use case in manufacturing. Imagine AI in ERP systems eliminating the need for manual inventory counts while ensuring always accurate information on quantities and locations

Benefits of AI in Manufacturing
The benefits of AI in manufacturing are many and the above examples are but a few. More broadly, AI in the manufacturing industry will change how every role interacts with technology and gains the time to focus on higher-value activities. Some specific benefits of AI and ML in manufacturing include the following:

1. Increased operational efficiency and productivity using more data in less time with higher accuracy to benefit the critical areas of manufacturing operations.
2. Improved product quality and reduced defects by working faster and more thoroughly than any human ever could.
3. Enhanced safety and risk management using data and intelligence to alert operations to potential issues, pull humans out of dangerous or tedious jobs, and serve as another pair of eyes constantly scanning for risks.
4. Cost savings through optimized resource utilization by taking business, customer, supplier and other information into account when developing operations and workforce plans.
5. Faster and more accurate decision-making because managers and executives get near-instant access to more accurate information for more informed decisions made with more confidence.

(Source: Rootstock article: “AI in Manufacturing: Revolutionizing Efficiency & Innovation”)