Artificial intelligence: a brain booster for industry

A team of man and excavator is more efficient than a man with a shovel - even more efficient than many people with shovels. This analogy can be extended: A team of people and computers is more efficient than many people with pen and paper.

Digitalization and artificial intelligence are now giving rise to assistance systems that help people process more information in less time. This is now an absolutely essential aid for workers because our world is becoming ever more digital, faster and more complex.

Weak and strong AI

There are two major trends in AI research: today we are dealing with "weak" AI, which can only perform certain tasks efficiently and effectively. In many areas, machines are now clearly superior to humans. One example is the chess computer, which can no longer be beaten by a human.

Limited to the field of chess, the machine already has "super-human" capabilities. This development is continuing, especially in mechanical engineering applications. Surveys, for example by Bitkom, show that employees are very open to these more supportive technologies. However, there is still no evidence that we will ever be able to create a truly intelligent machine - i.e. a "strong" AI. Currently, despite all the positive press reports, this is still pure science fiction.

Areas of application for AI in industry

Artificial intelligence can be used in almost all areas of mechanical engineering: in development, in sales, in production and, above all, in service. The applications here range from commissioning and maintenance/monitoring to repairs. In this way, experience from the field, machine operation and service can be fed back into the company, for example in the design department, or used to optimize the customer's OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness).

In mechanical engineering, too, the trend is now clearly and visibly moving towards "Everything as a Service". Profits from service are now 400 percent higher than profits from the actual sale of machines. One major change is that the industry is getting more contact with its actual users. Whereas in the past, the customer took over the machine and the manufacturer knew little about who the actual user was and exactly how their product was operated, this is changing dramatically as a result of increasing digitalization.

With many systems and machines, it is important to precisely adjust the parameters to the respective production. At the moment, this task is performed by people, the machine operators. They often need many years of experience to do this and often make decisions based on "gut instinct". Many of these employees are from the baby boomer generation and will be retiring in the next few years. However, their expertise must not be lost, as the impact on OEE would probably be very high. AI solutions can help to preserve this knowledge and continue to use it productively in the future.

Don't miss the boat!

Mechanical engineering companies that miss out on artificial intelligence will lose their competitiveness in the medium term because they will be neither effective nor efficient enough. There is also a risk - due to the shortage of skilled workers and demographic change - that they will no longer be able to recruit enough experienced employees.

In the future, artificial intelligence will ensure that commissioning, maintenance, operating and repair processes in mechanical engineering are completed faster, better and always with the same quality worldwide. Digital assistants and worker assistance systems are therefore the next logical step in the fourth industrial revolution. Humans and machines will have to work more closely together in the future. However, this does not mean that artificial intelligence will replace humans in industry in the future.

Both "strong artificial intelligence" and the "factory floor completely without humans" will probably remain a vision. Rather, humans will gain an intelligent assistant that is constantly at their side as a thought amplifier so that they can always make the right decision on the factory floor, even in difficult situations.

Literature tip:

"Connected workers will be the marines of the Industrial Internet." (Michael Jay Moon, Rocco J. Santoro, Hands Free Revolution-Executive Primer, Gistics 2017, available online)