How companies increase their production with AI

üt is much talked about artificial intelligence in production, but it is still too rarely put into practice. The WGP (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktionstechnik) wants to change this together with other manufacturing experts. We are setting up a nationwide demonstration and transfer network that will provide practical support for the implementation of example applications in industry," reports Prof Christian Brecher, spokesman for the WGP's Presidential Committee and head of the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University. His institute is coordinating the new Pro KI initiative. German industry has so far fallen short of its potential to make its production more efficient and flexible with AI. We want to enable them to use appropriate applications.“ At Pro KI, interested parties will not only find free advice at a total of eight locations in Germany, but also very practical examples and recommendations for implementing AI in their production lines.

In the ongoing research projects „Learning Production Technology – Use of Artificial Intelligence in Production (Pro Lern)“ it had become apparent that the AI solutions that already exist hardly make it out of the universities and into the manufacturing industry. „They are simply not well enough known among entrepreneurs“, regrets Christian Fimmers, Coordinator for Pro KI at the WZL Aachen. Nevertheless, the benefits of artificial intelligence for manufacturing are well recognised. A survey of the 80 participants at the kick-off event in the forming sector in December 2022 revealed that companies primarily want to increase their productivity with AI. In second place is the desire to reduce the reject rate, followed by planned maintenance. However, the benefits of artificial intelligence extend far beyond this to optimised quality assurance and material characterisation, as well as minimising process uncertainties and machine downtimes. Following the launch at the end of last year, a so-called Pro KI Infopoint was set up in Darmstadt in a second step on 12 January 2023.

Starting with AI in forming technology

Within this framework, the Darmstadt researchers will organise a monthly information event together with their Dresden colleagues, at which users will each address a key topic in short keynote speeches. Participants can then contribute and discuss their specific situations via the input. The focus will be exclusively on AI in forming technology, as the Darmstadt and Dresden-based companies are the experts in this field within the WGP. In January, for example, the focus was on the question of how to convince employees of the benefits of AI applications. After all, even for experienced teams, the decisions made using artificial intelligence are not always comprehensible. This year, participants will learn, among other things, how the availability of their systems can be optimised in terms of costs, how energy efficiency can be increased in forming companies and how AI can manage uncertainties in forming processes.

Test environments for companies

In the coming weeks, the free format will be extended to other research locations with their respective focal points. In addition to forming, joining, cutting and coating in production will also be covered. They will be organised by those centres that have proven experience in the respective topic. Institutes in Aachen, Berlin, Darmstadt, Dresden, Hanover, Ilmenau, Karlsruhe and Nürnberg are involved. „In addition to the info points, all locations also provide demonstrators and test environments for manufacturing companies“, emphasises Fimmers. „As I said, Pro AI is mainly about transferring the new technologies into practice.“

News from "medizin & technik" on 08 February 2023