Automation is already well-established in manufacturing. Artificial intelligence, however, is still only used to a limited extent. Roth intends to leverage AI in the future and is currently exploring the opportunities and risks associated with it.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can give businesses a real competitive edge – but only if it is used properly. In addition to identifying and seizing opportunities, this includes consciously addressing the associated risks. At Roth, we are therefore analysing the opportunities and risks that AI poses for our company and our customers.

Programming language

One of the most promising uses of AI in our manufacturing operations lies in its ability to simplify the programming language for CNC machines. This allows new employees and interns to be involved sooner in machine programming. At the same time, the simplification can help to identify and resolve errors in the programs more easily.

Production programs

Another area where we believe AI could support us is in the manufacturing of similar components. With the help of AI, similarities can be identified more easily, allowing snippets of production programs for CNC machines to be readily reused for similar precision components.

Quality control

We also intend to use AI for quality assurance in the future. As well as assessing whether components meet the quality criteria, AI can also provide an analysis of the causes behind any defects that are identified. Furthermore, it can then initiate measures directly to eliminate these causes.

Maintenance

Under the banner of predictive maintenance (PM), AI collects data from the machines to assess their condition and predict failures. If maintenance is then carried out promptly based on this data, it is possible to prevent downtimes and save money. In this way, PM will make our production even more reliable.

Drawings

However, AI is not just useful in the production stage but before that as well. For example, we are also interested in how it can help us during the development phase. On the one hand, AI can interpret technical drawings and check them for consistency and plausibility. On the other hand, AI can create drawings itself based on ISO GPS data. Although the AI’s drawings won’t be perfect right away, they are continuously optimised through machine learning.

Data security

We can only use AI in our manufacturing operations if we give it access to our production data. Consequently, one of the biggest risks associated with AI is a cyberattack. Cybersecurity is therefore a crucial consideration.

Scepticism

Another risk is the scepticism of the workforce. For employees, change always means uncertainty. It is therefore important that we involve our staff in the implementation of AI at an early stage and are able to get them on board.

To conduct a more detailed analysis of the opportunities and risks that AI poses for our manufacturing and other operations, we are working with experts in the field. However, strategic decisions regarding the use of AI should be made internally within the company. In order to make informed decisions, we need to improve our knowledge and expertise in this area. This is something our managers are already doing by attending appropriate training programmes.