Artificial Intelligence and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

There are many factors that spike up the production costs of a company. In manufacturing, ongoing maintenance of production line machinery and equipment represents a major expense, having a crucial impact on the bottom line of any asset-reliant production operation especially in this fourth industrial revolution phase. Manufacturing companies are finding it increasingly harder to maintain high levels of quality during the industrial revolution. Bringing out the best product takes time as well as large human resources. But all that is set to change.

Introducing – The Fourth Industrial Revolution

The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second Industrial Revolution used electric power to create mass production. The Third Industrial Revolution used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now the Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third and has had a massive impact on the manufacturing sector. The fourth industrial revolution, powered by technology is remolding the industrial sector, helping businesses achieve more profits and more efficiency. The sector is entering its next phase – Industry 4.0 – which is driven by automation, AI, and Internet of things, and cloud computing. The big players are already investing millions in computer intelligence so that they can save time, money, and resources while maximizing their production. The Manufacturer’s Annual Manufacturing Report 2018 found that 92% of senior manufacturing executives believe that ‘Smart Factory’ digital technologies – including Artificial Intelligence – will enable them to increase their productivity levels and empower staff to work smarter.

How is the Manufacturing Sector using Artificial Intelligence?

Through computer vision, machines can be powered to pay attention to the tiniest of details, far beyond a man’s potential. Landing.ai, a startup formed by Silicon Valley veteran Andrew Ng, has developed machine-vision tools to find microscopic defects in products such as circuit boards, using a machine-learning algorithm trained on remarkably small volumes of sample images. If it spots a problem or defect, it sends an immediate alert, an artificial intelligence process known as “automated issue identification.”

Artificial intelligence can also be used to monitor the whole process of manufacturing. Siemens, one of the leading manufacturing companies on the planet, did just that. They embarked on a digitalization strategy of which one of the major goals was Overall Equipment Efficiency. In late 2017, the company announced the latest version of its IoT operating system, MindSphere. Physical machines can be connected to Mindsphere cloud environment, enabling it to build the application that visualizes the various metrics that plant managers need to monitor in 2018. It also gives the resources needed to build an industrial Internet of Things system in a fraction of the time it would take to set up a physical environment.

General Electrics is yet another leader in the manufacturing sector that has adopted the artificial intelligence strategy. In 2015 GE launched its Brilliant Manufacturing Suite for customers, which it had been field testing in its own factories. The system takes a holistic approach of tracking and processing everything in the manufacturing process to find possible issues before they emerge and to detect inefficiencies. GE claims it improved equipment effectiveness at this facility by 18 percent.

It is powered by Predix, their industrial internet of things platform. In the manufacturing space, Predix can use sensors to automatically capture every step of the process and monitor each piece of complex equipment. You can view a short video of how its done here.

Another application of artificial intelligence is the use of generative design. Designers or engineers input design goals into generative design software, along with parameters such as materials, manufacturing methods, and cost constraints. Software explores all the possible permutations of a solution, quickly generating design alternatives. It tests and learns from each iteration what works and what doesn’t. From the many solutions that are put forward, the designers or engineers filter and select the outcomes that best meet their needs. This can lead to major reductions in cost, development time, material consumption, and product weight. Airplane manufacturer Airbus used generative design to reimagine an interior partition for its A320 aircraft and came up with an intricate design that ultimately shaved off 45 percent (30kg) of the weight off the part.

Such applications will affect the future of work. These will bring down labor costs, reduce product defects, shorten unplanned downtimes, improve transition times, and increase production speed. It all comes down to optimal manufacturing performance. If manufacturers do not invest in the long term, ignore the fusion of technologies then their profits would be affected, as prices of products as well as the raw materials would only go up. However, it is not late yet as the field of artificial intelligence is constantly evolving and these applications will be the future of artificial intelligence.

Why is Data Cleaning important?

With most industries relying on data today for their business growth, especially data-intensive industries like banking, insurance, retail, telecoms among others, managing data to be error-free becomes important. It is known that one way of achieving maximum efficiency is to reduce all kinds of data errors and inconsistencies. If the company aims to optimize its working and increase their profits by using data, then data quality is of utmost importance. Old and inaccurate data can have an impact on results. Data quality problems can occur anywhere in information systems.

These problems can be solved by using various data cleaning techniques. Data cleaning is a process used to determine inaccurate, incomplete, or unreasonable data and then improve quality by correcting detected errors and omissions.

What are the benefits?

Since data is a major asset in many companies, inaccurate data can be dangerous. Incorrect data can reduce marketing effectiveness, thereby bringing down sales and efficiency. If the organization had clean data, then falling into such situations can be avoided. And data cleaning is the way to go. It removes major errors and inconsistencies that are inevitable when multiple sources of data are getting pulled into one dataset. Using tools to clean up data will make everyone more efficient. Fewer errors mean happier customers and fewer frustrated employees. Increased productivity and better decisions are other benefits of using data cleaning.

What are some common errors that could happen while dealing with data?

Some of the most common mistakes that occur in structured data are missing fields. Such errors can be fixed using tools like Google’s Structured Data Testing tool. This tool gives you a list detailing all of the errors, along with detailed information on the structured data Google currently detects on your website. Omissions, data that is duplicate, inaccurate or incorrect data can create expensive interruptions.If it is believed that any event does not represent a normal outcome, it needs to be filtered out from the analysis. Comparing different sets of population, segment or cluster can also result in data inconsistencies. So does drawing inferences on thin data. Another mistake that can happen is when wrong applications of the inferences are accepted. Data cleaning is an important aspect of data management which cannot be ignored. Once the data cleaning process is completed, the company can confidently move forward and use the data for deep, operational insights.

How to go about the process of data cleaning?

The manual part of the process is what can make data cleaning an overwhelming task. While much of data cleaning can be done by software, it must be monitored and inconsistencies reviewed.

Some general guidelines that all companies can follow to data clean include forming a data quality plan. By standardizing the data process, one will ensure a good point of entry and reduce the risk of duplication. Monitoring errors and fixing the data at the source can save both time and resources. Investing in tools that measure data accuracy is another wise way that can be adopted.  A reliable third-party source can capture information directly from first-party sites. It would then clean and compile the data to provide more complete information for business intelligence and analytics.

Certain data cleaning tools helps in keeping the data clean and consistent to let you analyze data to make informed decision visually and statistically. Few of such tools are free, while others may be priced with a free trial available on their website.  OpenRefine, formerly known as Google Refine is a free and open-source data cleansing tool. It cleans inaccurate data and transforms it. It can also transform data from one format to another, letting you explore big data sets with ease, reconcile and match data, clean and transform at a faster pace. Trifacta Wrangler is another free tool that cleans and transforms data. It takes less time formatting and focuses on analyzing data. It’s machine learning algorithms help in preparing data by suggesting common transformations and aggregations. Other tools include Drake, TIBCO Clarity, Winpure, Data Ladder, and Cloudingo, among others.