How Generative AI Will Transform Manufacturing

October 5, 2023

Generative AI news is everywhere. Analysts and the media predict that the technology will boost industry revenues by enabling faster, more precise innovation and automating processes.

In a new Manufacturing.net article, ABI Research predicts that generative AI will unlock $10.5B in new revenues for the manufacturing industry by 2033.

“Generative AI has growth that will derive from functionality and use cases across market verticals. The deployment of generative AI will come in three waves as the technology matures, with manufacturing seeing the largest revenue growth during the second and third waves. During the second and third waves of adoption, generative AI will be deployed into four domains of manufacturing: design, engineering, production, and operations,” says James Iversen, Manufacturing and Industrial Industry Analyst at ABI Research.

Manufacturers are developing generative AI strategies and roadmaps, assessing their infrastructure readiness, and working with partners to deploy new capabilities.

Some of the top use cases include:

Streamlining product innovation and design: Generative AI can accelerate teams’ ability to discover new materials and product formulations, according to E&Y. When teams use digital twins, they test manufacturability and product performance earlier in the design stage, reducing development costs.
Transforming maintenance: Generative AI provides interactive insights that teams can use to optimize routine maintenance schedules, diagnose issues, and drive to insight on which solutions to use. By so doing, teams improve machine uptime and throughput.
Improving product quality: Together, predictive analytics, generative AI, and high-resolution cameras proactively identify product quality issues human vision might miss. By identifying issues as they occur, operators make fast process changes that limit product waste.
Improving knowledge management: Manufacturers want to make it easier for employees to search and find critical content, whether safety guidelines, regulatory information, or work instructions. Employees are using generative AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants to find relevant content quickly. They differ from traditional chatbots because workers converse with tools or type questions in a natural language format, and generative AI can quickly learn and update information.
Accelerating skills training: Generative AI supercharges interactive training by incorporating operator actions and machine performance data insights. Rather than getting generic guidance on operating equipment or solving problems, operators get relevant skills training that uplevels their performance.
Enhancing customer service: Customers often get frustrated with hardcoded chatbots – hence the hashtag #chatbotfail. Traditional AI chatbots offer limited guidance, meaning they can’t solve many customer problems. Customer service chatbots enable customers to engage naturally. They also empower customer service and sales staff with real-time information on customers and product usage they can leverage to guide interactions and more rapidly resolve problems.

Generative AI will transform manufacturing, making it an exciting time to work in the industry. Workers will work more intuitively, get support when and where needed, and solve problems more efficiently.