The Rise of AI: Transforming Industrial and Electronics Processes for a Smarter Future

What if I told you it’s true yet again – we are about to see a monumental shift in industrial and electronics processes, driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is already making significant advances? The current global chip shortage shows once again how new innovations could provide alternatives to the status quo in semiconductor manufacturing, where traditional routes are costly in both funds and in carbon footprint. Nicholls and his colleagues have their sights set on making materials that self-assemble into complex 3D patterns, and have recently taken inspiration from the exoskeletons of a crustacean called Daphnia pulex.

These shells, which are made of the same building blocks as semiconductors, show unusual features in their surface structures. This gives Nicholls and his colleagues hope for creating a new route to manufacture chips in a more sustainable way, applicable to industrial and electronics processes. At Tsinghua University in Beijing, researchers are investigating how self-assembly can be used in semiconductor manufacturing inspired by daphnia. Using blockchain and lab robotics, they are exploring a new way of working, though the details and how effective it might be in industrial applications is still under development. This research into self-assembly represents one of many studies looking towards biomimicry for technological improvements across various sectors.

A recent report published in the International Journal of Modern Physics B outlines potential applications of biomimicry, specifically examining Daphnia pulex, to industrial and electronics processes. The exact applications of this research won’t be clear until the scientists delve deeper, but their research illustrates the range of technological improvements that bio-inspired processes can provide. Picture a future in which factories are buzzing with intelligent activity—the work of tireless machines—but also, and even more impressively, the result of a harmonious collaboration between man and machine.

Photograph modular 3D printing with artificial intelligence. Courtesy of Formlabs/NVIDIA. The text below looks at how artificial intelligence is evolving in industrial and electronics processes, from product design to manufacturing. There is no fiction here. It is reality and will quickly reach our lives: according to a 2022 study by Deloitte, AI could contribute as much as $2.2 trillion currently to the global manufacturing sector by 2030.

From Idea to Reality: AI in Design and Engineering

AI tools are shaking up product design and engineering processes in industrial and electronics sectors.

Generative Design: AI algorithms can generate various design options based on specific material and geometric criteria and constraints. This enables engineers to explore a much higher number of design options, allowing them to optimize the shape geometrically and select the best-performing, most materials-efficient parts for both industrial applications and electronic components.

Machine Learning Simulations: AI simulations can predict how a product will behave in different conditions, helping engineers to prevent issues before manufacture, even before physical
prototypes are built (Read more about AI’s influence over product design and development here: blog ‘The power of AI in product design and development’).

Automating Routine Design Work: AI can replace tedious and repetitive tasks like drafting and documentation so engineers can focus on more creative and important parts of a project.

The Factory Floor Gets Smarter: AI in Production and Quality Control

using Industrial and Electronics Processes

AI is coming to the factory floor in the service of efficiency and excellence: Anomaly Detection in industrial and electronics processes. Machine learning AI algorithms review sensor data generated by machines in real time to identify anomalies that could indicate equipment failures in advance. This supports predictive maintenance, avoiding the occurrence of costly downtime and maintaining seamless production.

Process optimisation: Incorporating AI into manufacturing processes can allow it to analyze historical data and determine which aspects may be improved (such as through reducing operating time, increasing efficiency, cutting waste, or generating greater production yields, among other possibilities).

Quality Control: AI systems analyze images and data to check products and identify product defects, reducing the time needed for manual inspections and ensuring consistent product quality. (Read more on AI improving quality control in manufacturing in this blog post ‘How AI is improving quality control in manufacturing’.)

Human Expertise Still Matters: The Power of Human-Machine Collaboration

Notwithstanding the potent capabilities of AI, the practice of medicine is not replaced by today’s technology, which decides on diseases and prioritizes treatment rather than replacing human coaching.

Developing skilled physicians is the role of humans, using AI as an amplifying tool. In industrial and electronics processes, decision-making support through deep numeric insight or analysis of massive amounts of data, as well as insights from AI, can assist humans in making the most valuable decisions across the supply chain.

Additionally, AI can automate complex and potentially dangerous tasks currently performed by workers in factories and other similar workplaces, particularly in industrial and electronics processes, thereby improving worker safety. Pivoting on creativity and innovation, while AI may displace some jobs, it liberates those who remain in the workforce from mundane, commodified work that alienates them from recognizing their potential beyond mere cogs in the accumulation of capital.

Now, they can devote themselves to activities closer to ‘the good life’: creating new products through innovation, improving business processes, refining intellectual joints, innovating a new language of communication, and more.

A Glimpse into the Future: The Evolving Landscape of AI in Industry

The future of AI in industrial and electronics processes is brimming with exciting possibilities.

Sophisticated AI-powered robots will be designed for complex tasks rather than merely automating existing jobs. The implications of this shift will be profound—AI-powered robots could be programmed to learn from human workers, evolve, and improve, liberating employees from repetitive, low-skilled tasks and creating a new production line.

Fully Autonomous Production Systems may also emerge, involving the complete automation of production in factories of the future, where algorithms manage every aspect of the industrial and electronics processes, from raw material extraction to finished goods.

Continuous Learning and Improvement will characterize these AI systems, allowing them to generate compounding enhancements by refining themselves with every iteration based on the data they analyze regarding manufacturing processes.

Conclusion: Embracing the AI Revolution

If the embedded and potentially predictive and reactive nature of AI is waiting for a place, the industrial and electronics world markets are not a ‘will it ever,’ but more an ‘at what time.’ Embracing AI and human-machine coupling is the golden carrot opportunity to accelerate into a sustainable, efficient, and innovative future for industrial and electronics processes.

The choice will be between mastering AI without losing sight of human and company expertise and inventiveness and missing out on this technological revolution. Let’s collaborate to manage the coming technology revolution where AI makes industrial and electronics processes more efficient and sustainable for the benefit of everyone.

The future of AI is here—let’s work together to embrace it without sacrificing human ingenuity and expertise. Contact us today to discover how we can help you navigate this technological revolution and create a more sustainable, efficient future for your business.

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