Manufacturing is a very broad term when you look at how the industry is defined; “any industry that makes products from raw materials by the use of manual labour or machinery and that is usually carried out systematically with a division of labour”. Nonetheless, this is a space that benefits from automation arguably more so than any other industry. That’s another subject to get into but essentially, time, money, and efficiency is where the appeal to automation stems from.

A company on its own can’t just look for the metaphorical “band-aid” to put over its current processes and magically scale performance. For this reason, they outsource to consultants; a team that can see not just the current shortcomings but ones the company can expect down the line. 

What we as vendors know about manufacturing companies in North America in 2023, is that procurement and sourcing, as well as supply chain disruptions, are among the critical challenges faced. Artificial intelligence is a great resource to overcome these challenges, but the specifics that an AI system needs to address in the context of manufacturing are intricate and multifaceted.

Solving Problems Across Industry Models

As we’ve already covered, the industry is broad and every business will have different outcomes they’re looking for. With that said, here are some practical application examples that can be leveraged across multiple business models:

AI-Powered Procurement Platforms: By analyzing information from supplier databases, market trends, historical data, and other relevant data sources, AI procurement platforms can match specific procurement requirements with supplier capabilities and qualifications. Resources for this include Globality, Zycus, and JAGGAER.

Spend Analysis: AI can analyze spending patterns and identify opportunities to save money by scrutinizing large volumes of procurement data. It also offers insights into spending behaviour, supplier performance, and contract compliance. Some platforms for this could be SpendHQ or SAP Ariba. 

Supplier Risk Management: These AI tools can assess supplier risk by analyzing various data sources, which might include financial data, news articles, and social media. They’ll help identify potential risks and enable proactive risk mitigation strategies. Platforms for this might include Resilinc and Zycus iContract.

Contract Management: Platforms like Icertis or Evisort can automate contract management processes by extracting key information from contracts, identifying risks and opportunities, and ensuring compliance with contractual terms and conditions.

Demand Forecasting: This is simply for optimizing inventory levels, reducing stockouts, and enhancing the efficiency of your supply chain overall. For this, you’ll want to look at BlueYonder.

Where AI Consulting Comes In

Consulting at a base level is about creativity, bringing an outsider perspective into your organization with expertise in problem-solving to create solutions that will optimize your business long term, great. With AI in the picture, this process looks the same, but even more promising - specifically when it comes to data management. Whether you’re a small-scale manufacturer or a large industrial player, data is at the heart of your operations and it can be extremely tedious and time-consuming. 

Most companies with in-house development teams may either be trying to navigate multiple priorities or simply might not have the expertise to construct a system that can manage data using machine learning and AI. For a company this is a problem, for a consultancy this is a massive opportunity. When you say the words “trouble managing data”, a consultancy correlates wasted time and resources, which would push them to create a roadmap looking something like this: 

Know the Plan: The consultants start by understanding what needs to be done. They figure out what problems and good things we want to achieve with your information.

Make a Smart Plan: Next, they think about how to do it in a smart way that matches your needs. They decide what kinds of information we need and how to keep it safe.

Choose the Right Rules: They make rules like a game. They say where the information comes from, what it looks like, and how to take care of it. This helps everyone use the information the right way.

Think about AI's Job: They talk about how AI can help. They make sure the AI does what you want and is safe.

Stay Safe: They check to make sure the AI is working well and doesn't do anything bad. They also make rules to stop the AI from doing bad things.

Keep Everything Nice: They make sure the information stays good and not messy. They also make sure it's always correct and up-to-date.

Make It Even Better: They look at how things are going and think about how to make them even better. They use the plan to keep improving how you take care of your information.

The System

At the core of AI's prowess lies its ability to learn. Think of it as a virtual apprentice that gets better with experience. Initially, AI algorithms are fed historical data - production records, machine performance, and even external factors like market trends. Through sophisticated techniques like machine learning, AI identifies hidden relationships between variables and develops predictive models.

An ERP system infused with AI is the ultimate vision for manufacturing companies. For anyone who’s never imagined that, it’d look something like this: As raw materials flow into the factory, embedded sensors send real-time data to the AI-powered ERP system. The AI, like an orchestra conductor, processes this influx of information. It then predicts maintenance requirements for the machines before they break down, optimizes production schedules based on market demand, and even fine-tunes the supply chain to minimize delays.

Too good to be true? We think not. 

The Takeaway

AI consultancy isn’t so much about thinking up and designing systems as it is about giving companies the best shot at success for the least amount of risk. It’s not an easy process, but that’s what experts are for. We’d love to make your problems our solutions, so be sure to bring us all of them. 

Written By Ben Brown

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ISU Corp is an award-winning software development company, with over 17 years of experience in multiple industries, providing cost-effective custom software development, technology management, and IT outsourcing.

Our unique owners’ mindset reduces development costs and fast-tracks timelines. We help craft the specifications of your project based on your company's needs, to produce the best ROI. Find out why startups, all the way to Fortune 500 companies like General Electric, Heinz, and many others have trusted us with their projects. Contact us here.