The rise of AI in manufacturing

AI plays a crucial role in automating manual and cognitive tasks, providing valuable assistance and enhancing decision-making through continuous machine learning.  By enabling real-time analysis and automating tasks that are typically prone to human errors, these technologies contribute significantly to maintaining high-quality standards.

Today, leading manufacturers streamline their entire production ecosystem thanks to IIoT, AI, robotics and even cloud and edge computing. These technologies work together to create digital twins and to perform predictive analytics that help identify anomalies, bottlenecks, and quality issues proactively.

By efficiently leveraging their data, those companies are now data-driven, usually benefiting from:

• Increased equipment life span and reduced costs using predictive maintenance
• Productivity and quality optimization using anomaly detection
• Computer vision driven quality control inspections
• Enabling real-time analysis and simulations with Digital Twins

In addition, while industrial processes often prioritize the Pareto principle, which focuses on addressing the most significant issues, AI can play a complementary role. It excels at identifying subtle inconsistencies that might fall into the long tail (rare occurrences that can still have a significant impact). By pinpointing these nuances, AI contributes to enhanced quality control and overall process efficiency.

Navigating the main challenges of AI adoption

Adoption of AI has its share of drawbacks and difficulties. At ELCA, we assist our clients in carefully designing and implementing AI technologies. Several of the most significant obstacles we overcame jointly were:

• Building a shared AI culture: The term AI encompasses both established technologies (Machine Learning) and experimental ones (Generative AI). Potential benefits of AI should be pragmatically investigated. To gain confidence in the technology and comprehend the reasoning behind the decisions made by AI systems, interpretability of AI models is crucial.
• Data Collection and Data Quality: AI heavily depends on precise, up-to-date data. Ensuring its quality is paramount, especially as organizations advance in their digital maturity.
• Risk assessment and compliance: AI introduces new risks related to security, data protection and regulatory compliance. Manufacturers must navigate these complexities while ensuring AI systems meet quality standards and avoid IP leaks.
• Uncertainty around ROI: AI systems involve intricate technologies, processes and functions, making their return-on-investment assessment challenging. However, forgoing their use can expose a company to competitive risk when compared to more venturesome competitors.

ELCA’s journey towards innovation

ELCA accompanies companies in their digital transformation projects; among them:

• Training and upskilling watchmakers with Virtual Reality and 3D models of a flagship product for a luxury watchmaking company
• Significantly reduced maintenance costs using IoT sensors and predictive maintenance for a transportation company
• Automated tedious processes such as counting and characterizing cells in extracellular matrices using microscope images for a global leader in life science research

More recently, ELCA together with Tigen (a biotech company) have won the “Digital Innovation of the Year” award for the establishment of a new data supply chain to develop personalized solutions for patients; implementing a Data-Driven Platform.

ELCA: an expert partner for your digital transformation

As the first independent Swiss IT company, ELCA is ready to support you in defining your Data & AI vision. Let us work together and choose the best technologies that will address your specific challenges.

Are you ready to become a Data-Driven Enterprise ?

The ELCA team will be present at the EPHJ trade fair. Come and meet us on Stand M90.

More information about ELCA – www.elca.ch

Recently, ELCA together with Tigen (a biotech company) have won the “Digital Innovation of the Year” award for the establishment of a new data supply chain to develop personalized solutions for patients implementing a Data-Driven Platform.”

ELCA supports Tigen to accelerate cell-based cancer therapies | ELCA