Essay Sample: Technology and Manufacturing - Manufacturing in the Future

Technology is a dynamic field, which constantly mixes innovation and iterations in the creation of fresh opportunities for the current manufacturers so that they can re-imagine their manufacturing operations. The current state of technological development has exerted significant changes in how people work and live (Crandall, 2019). The manufacturing industry is progressively changing as a result of technological advancements. In the future, this trend is likely to be experienced in almost all the manufacturing verticals ranging from electronics to cars and pharmaceuticals (Lee et al., 2018). Artificial intelligence, like other technological innovations, has dramatically impacted society, particularly the manufacturing sector and its effects are still likely to be experienced shortly (Renzi et al., 2014).

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In the United States, the manufacturing industries have always freely embraced the adoption of new technologies. Since the 1960s the industrial robots, as well as drones, have formed essential parts of the manufacturing sector (Crandall, 2019). However, with the adoption of various technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, the industries have the ability to keep their inventories effectively as well as reduce the production cost.

There are no doubts that artificial intelligence has been intensively applied within the manufacturing sector compared to other technological innovations (Renzi et al., 2014). For instance, the artificial intelligence has been linked with improved data efficiency, employee’s safety, product quality s well a significant cut in any unplanned downtimes within the production process.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the main technological developments in the manufacturing sector that describes the use of internet in communication as well as the artificial intelligence that nearly complies a large amount of data that are vital for the artificial machine learning. Both the artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things have improved the manufacturing efficiencies and systems; thus, they have been successfully adopted within the industry (Lee et al., 2018). In the recent past, manufacturers have always wished to ensure that all the products are perfect. This has been realized through the continued implementation of artificial intelligence in the line of production (Renzi et al., 2014).

Manufacturing technology presents the various tools that are necessary for the production of all the manufactured products (Petropoulos, 2018). One of the most significant ways in which modern technology has improved the manufacturing industry is the maximization of production efficiency (Crandall, 2019). As such, technology has the ability to ensure that the efficient utilization of time thus reducing the times of production and subsequently atomizing the time-consuming and tedious tasks within the manufacturing industry (Renzi et al., 2014).

In the recent past, the technological innovation of the 3D printing significantly transformed the manufacturing industry since it resulted in the reduction of the time between the design and the production of various commodities (Lee et al., 2018). 3D printing technology has also resulted in reduced waste and enhanced flexibility in the production of various goods. This technology has become more effective within the manufacturing sector that the workers fear losing their jobs in the near future.

According to research conducted by Crandall (2019), the manufacturing industry counts for more than 2.17 trillion US dollars to the nation’s economy (Crandall, 2019). However, the manufacturing industry has undergone numerous ups and falls in the recent past. For instance, the technological advancements within the manufacturing industry have resulted in job cuts for workforce demographics even though such innovations have resulted in efficiency and effectiveness in the production process (Lee et al., 2018).

The new technological improvements have resulted in improvement in meeting consumer demands (Petropoulos, 2018). It is essential to note that the development of computerized management systems, the various manufacturing industries have become increasingly efficient (Lee et al., 2018). Such computerized management systems track the maintenance of systems, inspects breakdown, as well as ensuring that the system disruptions are much smaller and obsolete (Renzi et al., 2014).

It is essential to note that based on a report by the Global Market Insights, the market size for artificial intelligence in the year 2018 had surpassed $1billion and was expected to grow by more than 40% between the years 2019 and 2025 (Crandall, 2019). Even though artificial intelligence has been observed to be successful in some areas, it is still a new technology. In the manufacturing sector, the artificial intelligence is slowly modifying the CAD tools, predictive maintenance and the machine tools which have been successfully used in the sector for quite a long time (Renzi et al., 2014).

The adoption of artificial intelligence, the CAD and the IoT have significantly revolutionized the mass production of various goods, thus boosting the output from the manufacturing sector (Renzi et al., 2014). The artificial intelligence-driven robots have the ability to function 24-hours a day, thus promoting operational efficiency (Crandall, 2019). As such, in the recent past, the artificial intelligence technology has resulted in improved productivity and the reduced operating expenditure. Through the advanced data obtained by AI tools, various stakeholders and manufacturers can then identify the causes of malfunctions and failures so that appropriate actions could be taken in overcoming those (Lee et al., 2018).

In the current manufacturing industry, millions of robots are working in various factories across the globe. Although the human workforce have limitations and they can only work in shifts for enhanced production, the artificial intelligence technologies have the ability to work throughout the day thus increasing the general output (Crandall, 2019). With an increase in the adoption of the robots in industries, the various business has the ability to focus their labour force in activities such as sales resulting in significant growth in profits and sales (Crandall, 2019).

The other benefit of the AI in the manufacturing sector is that it has promoted real-time monitoring within the industry (Lee et al., 2018). For instance, AI has been adopted in to provide a more detailed picture regarding where inefficacies are likely to be experienced within the manufacturing process (Bessen, 2019). The ability to determine the exact process within the industry that require improvements essentially results in cost and time savings (Renzi et al., 2014). As such, the AI has proven to revolutionize production on both strategic and tactical levels.

Even though the AI has contributed immensely to the manufacturing sector, a lot still need to be done in the near future (Lee et al., 2018). For instance, various businesses are still engaged in numerous researches to determine how they could enhance and improve the operation of AI through supplementing and replacing human labor in the completion of some menial production tasks or rather freeing some chances for workers to think more creatively and strategically (Crandall, 2019). It is essential to note that the artificial intelligence technology in the form of robots is capable of doing some repetitive tasks, rising competence, eradicating the human errors as well as ensuring increased levels of quality assurance (Petropoulos, 2018).

The robots can also perform risky and normal tasks, thus reducing workplace accidents that are likely to be experienced (Renzi et al., 2014). With artificial intelligence taking over the manufacturing industry, it is expected that the workers will get involved in more innovative and complex tasks. As such, whereas the artificial intelligence will take care of the unskilled labor within the industries, the human beings will center on driving the economy in innovations as well as refocusing their businesses to some advanced levels.

Moreover, the artificial intelligence is expected to result in a high return on investment for the manufacturing sector despite the fact that it would necessitate a considerable capital investment (Lee et al., 2018). With the taking over of intelligent machines within the manufacturing industry, various businesses expect to enjoy some significantly lower costs of operation (Renzi et al., 2014).

Most importantly, artificial intelligence is often good when it comes to an understanding of the natural language as well as its translation. In the future, this would be simpler and easier to understand by workers and managers within the manufacturing sector (Lee et al., 2018). The manufacturing industry has made significant strides in the recent past to embrace new innovative technologies. Since the 1960s, the robots and the drones have been significant parts of the manufacturing sector (Crandall, 2019). In the near future, artificial intelligence technology is expected to increase the profitability within manufacturing while at the same time minimizing cost.

Again, in the near future, the manufacturing industry is expected to encounter an empowering development (Renzi et al., 2014). As such, the industry has to be ready for organized manufacturing plants in which the design team, supply chain, quality control and product lines are essentially coordinated into an intelligent tool that results in the provision of the essential knowledge insights within the industry (Bessen, 2019).

AI is expected to impact the manufacturing sector in other ways that have not yet been anticipated (Renzi et al., 2014). For instance, it is postulated that artificial intelligence is expected to enhance computer visualization. The computer visualization, in turn, would be essential in quality assurance through the real-time detection of any defects that exist in any product (Lee et al., 2018). In the current scenario where manufacturing involves the integration of the customer demands and worker management, artificial intelligence could rationalize how the information is handled (Crandall, 2019). For instance, a worker needs to be in the position of acquiring raw materials for the shelves within the manufacturing industries as automatically stock the various stock transactions simply through a camera that monitors the whole process (Renzi et al., 2014). This is expected to be a natural user interface which basically carries out the task at hand rather than scanning or imputing things into the system.

Again, artificial intelligence is expected to impact the Internet of Things to the extent that it will give an avenue for the delivery of supplies as well as various services to customers who may not have known such services (Lee et al., 2018). As such, the Internet of Things is expected to send some comprehensive telemetry back to the distributors and producers with the sole aim of scrutinizing the factors and the quality that may result in failures within the business process (Crandall, 2019). Concisely, the IoT is one of the main avenues that artificial intelligence is likely to utilize in the augmented generative process of design where various products are re-imagined in methods that are similar to evolution (Staš et al., 2010).