AI is crucial to manufacturing. According to a recent Forbes Insights survey, AI is deemed important today by 44% of those surveyed. In the upcoming five years, 49% say artificial intelligence will be critical to success in manufacturing. Why is AI in manufacturing so important? Artificial intelligence in manufacturing can offer a host of benefits to a manufacturing operation. Let’s look at three ways artificial intelligence technology can be a major benefit to production in manufacturing.
Preventive Maintenance
What is preventive maintenance? Preventive maintenance is a system that is put into place in a manufacturing operation to minimize downtime through 
an ongoing plan for maintaining machinery and equipment. Performing repairs and maintenance on an ongoing basis is much more efficient than repairing machinery in an emergency situation. Ongoing maintenance can prevent major costly repairs for the long term and can help equipment run more efficiently. This keeps cost low and productivity high. Preventive maintenance maximizes equipment availability and minimizes product defects as a result of faulty equipment.
How can preventive maintenance become predictive maintenance? Preventive maintenance becomes predictive when artificial intelligence becomes a part of the maintenance program. Real time data mining and machine learning tools can make machine maintenance a predictive exercise rather than a reactive one. With artificial intelligence, this can be done without manual analysis of large volumes of data to reach conclusions. Predictive maintenance can allow manufacturing lines to pivot quickly. Data is collected and operators can then view results and make changes quickly to eliminate downtime as much as possible.
Reduced Inspection Times
Inspections are completed for goods that are manufactured to ensure products meet quality standards. With Industry 4.0, expectations for product quality are higher than ever before. Without AI, quality inspections are conducted manually by humans. This leaves an operation open to a margin of 
error. Humans are slower and require a lot of tools and equipment to successfully and accurately complete inspections. Even with experienced personnel, mistakes will happen. Errors and the natural pace of humans performing inspections can be costly to an operation in the short and long term. AI offers assisted vision capabilities for humans to make use of. This AI vision helps increase the speed and accuracy of product inspections. This leads to a better product going out to customers with less cost and less waste.
Workflow Automation and Adaptive Systems
Automating aspects of operational workflow is made possible by artificial intelligence. AI is used to operate machinery, but also to track important data regarding machinery efficiencies and deficiencies. Having up-to-the-minute data helps systems adjust and pivot quickly. It allows manufacturing operations to adjust to changing buying patterns and adapt quickly for customer needs.
There are many ways that AI has an impact on manufacturing. As technology continues to progress, it is reasonable to predict that AI will grow even more critical to manufacturing operations in the years to come.
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