AI in manufacturing: an insider view

Abstract

“The earth furnishes the means of wealth; but wealth itself cannot possibly have any existence, unless through industry and labor which modifies, divides, connects, and combines the various productions of the soil, so as to render them fit for consumption” - Adam Smith. Stylisations in economic development of developed and more importantly developing nations highlight the pivotal role of manufacturing as an economic activity for economic prosperity. Manufacturing growth is directly linked to increasing wages and prosperity in societies. But not every economy has risen the prosperity ladder through manufacturing due to various reasons including trade barriers, lack of suitable infrastructure, automation replacing workers, rising costs and_ technological advancement among many. Developing economies manufactured goods at a competitive cost mainly due to labor arbitrage and after a period this arbitrage opportunity gets offset once wages start to rise or arbitrage margin reduces due to technological advancements that allows firms to produce more with less resources. Among the many technological advancements, Automation through either simulated processes or machine intelligence has had a profound impact so much as to bring down manufacturing cost in developed economies. So it became imperative for all to adopt Al in manufacturing to remain competitive.