How AI is Transforming Manufacturing

Industrial artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the manufacturing sector. The World Economic Forum

states that AI grants people “unprecedented superpowers” with elevated efficiency, innovation, safety, and sustainability. In manufacturing, AI automation is gaining traction as businesses search for solutions to overcome the widening skills gap and challenges around operational efficiencies.

In our ninth State of Smart Manufacturing (SOSM)

report, 85% of businesses disclosed that they have already invested, or plan to invest in, AI and machine learning this year. With advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities, AI is disrupting traditional end-to-end operations, optimizing production processes, enhancing quality control, and achieving continuity in the supply chain. As more factories leverage AI and generative AI (GenAI) to support their workflows, employees too, will need to embrace change.

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Boosting end-to-end productivity with AI

Automation is not new. However, factories of the future will take automation a step further with AI, enhancing their sensor capabilities with machine vision, accelerating compute capability in their control systems, deploying learning agents to inform decision-making to identify potential faults, and delivering better productivity in a safer environment.

At Rockwell Automation, we recognize that AI can add value across various roles – from decision makers to control engineers and operators. By bridging processes across the supply chain, customers can streamline processes and boost productivity.

Our expectation is that nearly all manufacturing related devices and software will have embedded AI capabilities over the next 5-10 years.

Systems will inherently use low to no touch AI capabilities that will act to optimize and control aspects of the production system aligned to the core use of the device or software.

For example, the anomaly detection algorithms available on FactoryTalk^® DataMosaix^™ and continuous AI monitoring on Fiix^® Asset Risk Predictor

can help manufacturers identify equipment that is worn, or spot any anomalies and replace them swiftly. This can help reduce downtime and deliver significant cost savings. These are deployed natively and with low to no maintenance.

Shaping the future of industrial operations through partnerships

As we move from automation to autonomous production, industrial AI is helping manufacturers elevate their systems to become capable of learning and adapting to their environment.

Let’s not forget that technology is an enabler to human ingenuity, acting as an amplifier to empower people to do extraordinary things. With the help of AI, businesses can push the limits of their imagination to unlock their potential and drive progress.

Just as important as technology is partnerships.

We believe that by partnering with experts in their respective fields, we can provide comprehensive and best-in-market solutions for our customers. Recently, we embarked on a collaboration with NVIDIA to integrate the NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud application programming interfaces (APIs) with our digital twin software, Emulate3D^™. This will boost existing capability factory analysis, including operations and simulation, making end-to-end operations across the supply chain more predictive.

GenAI’s large language model (LLM) is another area that will transform operational technology. By understanding natural language and making sense of it, LLM has the potential to expedite workflows. Our recent collaboration with Microsoft to add its Azure OpenAI Service into FactoryTalk^® Design Studio^™ will give businesses the power to accelerate industrial automation design. Now, engineers can generate code more easily using natural language prompts to automate routine tasks and improve design efficiency. With LLM capabilities, customers building industrial automation systems can experiment and test faster, accelerating time-to-market.

Find out more about how you can future-proof your business with our AI-powered solutions here.

This article was originally published on Scott Wooldridge’s LinkedIn page

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Published October 25, 2024

Scott Wooldridge

President, Asia Pacific Region, Rockwell Automation

Scott Wooldridge is president for Asia Pacific. Scott leads the execution of the company's strategy to bring the Connected Enterprise to life, combining our technology and domain expertise to deliver positive business outcomes for our customers. Scott works with his regional leadership team to implement the Asia Pacific growth initiatives and organizational development plans to meet our long-term objectives.

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