Recently, the musician and comedian Helge Schneider declared in a conversation: “AI seems reassuringly stupid to me”.
One might grant a comedy and entertainment genius like Helge Schneider that he does not yet see AI at the height of his own creative output; however,
In one area, the relevance of AI algorithms is indisputable: in production. A pioneer in this efficiency revolution is the AI company Anacision GmbH (www.anacision.de) with its solution anacision PLANNING: this is a planning algorithm, the solution falls into the category of advanced planning and scheduling systems (APS).
The solution is already in practical use and generates significant increases in production. For one customer (plastics manufacturer), for example, an increase in output of 17 per cent. For a machine manufacturer, a reduction of 28 percent in delays in the production of machines. And a sensor manufacturer succeeded in increasing the capacity utilisation of the plant by 10 per cent.
The solution can be integrated quickly and is primarily aimed at optimising set-up times, throughput times and adherence to schedules; the AI-supported detailed planning continuously shows efficiency potential during production. The algorithm plans the sequence of the production orders either in such a way that, for example, set-up times, throughput times and adherence to schedules are optimised – i.e. the most efficient “middle course” is taken here. Or the planning is completely geared towards specific criteria – for example, set-up times.
This APS solution is fully connected to ERP and/or MES, and avoids duplicate data storage. All relevant factors are taken into account in the algorithm – one of the clear strengths compared to other providers of APS software, where the information “shift schedule”, for example, is not represented.
And did you know …
Amazon plans to increase its use of artificial intelligence and robotics technology in its warehouses to improve the efficiency of goods handling. The centrepiece of this initiative is the “Sequoia” robotic system, which is being introduced in Amazon warehouses to process and sort orders faster. Sequoia is expected to reduce order processing time by up to 25% and speed up inventory management by about 75%.
AI algorithms are not only used in production for optimisation, but also in the digital environment – i.e. in IT production. Example: With the help of the AI algorithm DeepMind, energy consumption in Google‘s data centres was massively reduced by around 40%; interestingly, this saving was achieved AFTER a team of top engineers had already implemented a series of efficiency measures.
