Machine learning (ML) has proved to be a boon for manufacturing companies. With ML algorithms, manufacturing companies can effectively deal with the associated complexities.
Due to the significant benefits, more and more manufacturing companies have embraced ML. And the number is expected to increase in the coming years.
Given the information available in the public domain, ML will allow manufacturing companies to double their cash flows in the next few years.
With ML, businesses can achieve a substantial increase in efficiencies and enable the creation of new business opportunities.
Driven by the ML benefits, many manufacturing companies want to know how ML can help solve specific problems, such as finding manufacturing defects, redundant steps in the production process, reducing waste, identifying faulty components, etc.
So, let us walk through the specific benefits of ML in the manufacturing sector:
Predictive Maintenance
With ML, manufacturing companies can predict equipment failures before they occur. So, businesses can schedule maintenance before the occurrence. As a result, the companies can avoid unnecessary downtime.
With the knowledge of the machine failures beforehand, companies have to spend too much time fixing breakdowns. As such, resources have to work for a longer time.
But, ML provides a solution for such problems. Due to the knowledge beforehand, the business can deploy resources on time. And the resource can know what to fix ahead. So, the resources can quickly resolve the defect, saving time.
Given the capabilities of ML algorithms, you can expect an accuracy of prediction of 92%. So, manufacturing businesses can plan their maintenance schedules more effectively. As such, manufacturing companies gain improved asset reliability and product quality.
Again, historical information shows that by deploying ML algorithms, manufacturing businesses can improve overall equipment efficiency from 65% to 85%.
Quality Control
With ML algorithms, businesses can properly inspect their products and control their quality. ML-based computer vision algorithms can extract from historical data the difference between good and faulty products.
Therefore, the algorithms can automate the product inspection and supervision process.
Notably, the algorithms require good samples in the training set. Therefore, there is no need to make a list of possible defects.
Moreover, ML allows the development of algorithms that compares samples to the most common type of defects.
With ML, manufacturing businesses can gain savings in visual quality control during the manufacturing process.
According to the information available in the public domain, ML-based automated product quality testing can enhance detection rates by up to 90%.
Logistics
Logistics management is a critical aspect of the manufacturing industry. And the management calls for extensive logistics management capabilities to run the entire production process.
With ML algorithms, manufacturing companies can automate several logistics tasks. As such, the companies can boost efficiencies and reduce costs.
The information available in the public domain shows that manufacturing businesses lose sustainably every year due to manual logistics work. In addition, the manual route also is time-consuming.
But, manufacturing companies can automate the logistics-related tasks through the ML route to save thousands of man-hours annually.
In addition, ML algorithms can also streamline resource management, thus enabling the optimal use of resources.
Product Development
Product development is one of the vital uses of ML for manufacturing companies. Extensive data analysis is necessary to design new products or improve the existing ones.
It is where ML algorithms derive their values.
With ML algorithms, product companies can collect and analyze a large amount of product data to discover consumer demand, hidden flaws, and new business opportunities.
So, machine learning for manufacturing companies can help to improve product quality. As a result, businesses can increase their revenue streams.
Conclusion
ML algorithms have a lot to offer to the manufacturing industry. The algorithms can help to increase product quality, understand customer needs, and reduce downtime. As a result, the companies can see higher efficiency and productivity.