Artificial Intelligence Empowers Industrial Manufacturing, It's Just Beginning

"Industry 4.0 has defined the last decade of development and the individual components of the production line are starting to be connected ...... Now it is finally possible to use the data collected during the last decade through artificial intelligence technology, which is the initial application of artificial intelligence in industrial production." So said Jochen Köckler, chairman of the board of directors of the exhibition organizer Deutsche Messe, in an interview with China's Xinhua News Agency at the ongoing Hannover Messe 2023 in Germany.

From the Hannover Messe, which is known as one of the "world industrial barometer", it can be seen that artificial intelligence technology, which has been more of an emerging technology concept in the past few years, has now started to empower industrial production. However, a number of industry experts stressed that the era of artificial intelligence in industrial manufacturing "has just begun".

Artificial intelligence began to empower industrial manufacturing

Based on the increasingly mature Internet of Things technology, a large amount of data can be accessed in real time, big data for machine learning provides data resources and algorithm support, while cloud computing provides flexible computing resources for artificial intelligence. The organic combination of these technologies lays the foundation for AI technology and drives its continuous development.

As Kockler said, about ten years ago, the concept of Industry 4.0 was first introduced at the Hannover Messe, and the various components of the production line began to be connected, which is a prerequisite for collecting data. After collecting data for many years, artificial intelligence began to use this data and unfold the initial applications in industrial production.

At this year's Industrial Expo, it was evident to the reporter that from the latest tools designed for production lines to solutions applied to the industrial chain, AI applications have been applied throughout all aspects of manufacturing, including design, production, management and service, and its increasingly diverse application scenarios include fault monitoring, predictive maintenance, intelligent sorting, equipment health management, vision-based defect detection, intelligent decision making, optimized production planning, demand forecasting, and more.

Artificial intelligence is a core component of many of our products, such as servers, storage systems or networks," said Thomas Mayer, chief technologist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the United States. In addition, AI helps our customers optimize the performance of these systems and anticipate and prevent problems that may occur. For many years, millions of sensor data are collected from systems worldwide every second to train AI technology, which in turn is used to support users with operations and predictive maintenance."

Sebastian Schroff, technical expert at Festo, a leading German company in the field of automation, said that AI technology is no longer just a trend, but has become the standard for the entire industry.

Generative AI will accelerate digital change

The currently hot generative AI technology has already seen a handful of applications at this year's IFT. Kockler believes that the application of AI in the era of Industry 4.0 will go to a new step, namely the use of generative AI. Many technicians believe that the technology will not only change many industrial design and manufacturing processes, but could also disrupt entire industries.

ASSIST Software's Chief Product Officer Vlad Otrokol told reporters that since the introduction of this technology, the topic of artificial intelligence has come more into the public spotlight. Although there has been an AI "presence" at the recent annual industrial expo, he believes that the most special thing this year is that generative AI technology has begun to integrate with industry.

For example, Beckhoff is using generative AI technology in its "TwinCAT Machine Learning" controller integrated AI solution.

According to data from a survey released at the Hannover Messe, one third of German decision makers in medium and large companies in the industrial sector now believe that generative AI technologies will accelerate the digital transformation of their companies.

A survey of 1,500 industrial managers in Germany conducted by Westway Opinion Research showed that 62 percent of respondents believe that generative AI has multiple benefits in industry, including cost savings, increased efficiency and optimized business processes.

The era of artificial intelligence in manufacturing has just begun

Many industry experts believe that AI will provide more impetus for industrial development and accelerate the innovation process. However, most of the AI applications currently on display are preliminary innovation projects, and it will take time for AI to be applied in depth on a large scale to industrial manufacturing as a whole.

"We are clearly in the process of developing Industry 4.0, but AI is just getting started." Google industrial technologist Tino Gudelius told China's Xinhua news agency. In his opinion, the large-scale deep integration of AI and industrial production "will take another two years."

Weidmüller technical expert Tobias Gauckstern said that the application of artificial intelligence in industrial manufacturing requires not only AI scientists, but also experts who understand machines and manufacturing, and only through the cooperation of all parties can the application of artificial intelligence be pushed to a new era.

Several experts pointed out that strengthening cooperation is the key to the future development of artificial intelligence, in addition, the future of the technology in industrial applications lies in the combination of mathematics, statistics and neural networks.