AI has a role to play in UK manufacturing

At the end of November, Make UK and Autodesk launched a research report called ‘Future Factories powered by AI’ and it is the first report from Make UK to focus on AI in its entirety. As such, Autodesk invited The Manufacturer to its technology centre in Birmingham for the Make UK’s Member Connect event on The Future of AI in Manufacturing’ event.

As part of the presentations, Jamie Broughton, Senior Economist at Make UK, ran through some of the key stats collected from 151 Make UK members and one-to-one surveys.

Here are some highlights.

• 52% of manufacturers say they are in the evolution stage of using AI, and are in the process of transforming their businesses
• 9% have admitted that AI is ‘not for them’ and have not started using it. However, Make UK expects this to change as we move forward
• 36% of manufacturers think they have some knowledge of AI compared to around 7% who think they have very good knowledge. This suggests there is a knowledge gap in AI
• Looking at the key barriers to adoption; 44% say complexity, 44% cost of implementation and 39% the technology challenges
• To overcome this, 50% are looking for access to expertise and 41% are looking for financial incentives to help them

I sat down with Jamie and Asif Moghal, Director, D&M Market & Industry Development at Autodesk, to discuss AI in manufacturing in more detail.

How do you see the role of AI evolving in the manufacturing sector over the next decade and what are the most transformative AI-driven innovations on the horizon?

AM: At Autodesk we have the view that all our customers care about is three things; to make better products, sell more of them and generate greater value. We then look at the role AI can play in helping them do that.

AI has a role to play in making products better, how businesses sell them and customer feedback. AI can apply itself to the data and suggest trends it sees in the market. For example, a sustainable water bottle manufacturer can adapt their products based on trends, creating glass water bottles or water bottles with a transparent pane so you can see the contents inside.

It could also look at decarbonising the design of a product or manufacturing process with the gamechanger likely to be in the design phase of manufacturing. We know 80% of a product’s environmental impact is incurred in the design phase and that’s where AI can help.

Instead of attempting to make better choices like using less energy, we can design the problem out of the process in the first place. It will generate greater value for the planet, for people, enhance an individual human being’s ability to do their job and provide opportunities to do more innovative work, which makes life more fun!

JB: In ten years, I believe AI will be in the same place as ESG and sustainability are now. Ten years ago, sustainable practices were nice to have in your business plan, now it’s imperative. Businesses are unable to get on the value chain unless they can demonstrate sustainability.

Business leaders used to wake up with the idea of starting a sustainability project and implementing it. They began asking what their problems were, emissions, people, governance. Now that they have solved those issues, they have benefited as a business.

Eventually, the same rule will apply to AI. Right now, we have business leaders waking up and wanting to start an AI project and having the time to play around with it. In ten years’, time, it will become almost legislation to have AI in place.

What are the benefits that manufacturers, especially SMEs, can achieve by adopting AI technologies, and are there any hidden challenges they should be prepared for?

AM: The biggest obstacle we see is people starting with technology. People often want to start an AI project because everyone else is and that’s their jumping off point. But they need to ask themselves what problem they want to solve. At that point there’s usually a pause and an insightful discussion ensues.

If the UK industry did that more consistently, we would be flying ahead with AI.

What is the current state of AI implementation in UK manufacturing? How are we performing compared to other countries?

JB: Currently the UK is in the infantile stage which is not a bad thing. If the report showed that everyone was 100% filling their maximum capacity using AI capabilities then that would be impressive. But it’s encouraging to know that we are in the middle ground; we know it’s important and we are interested in using it.

However, can the UK be competitive? We lack a plan and we can see this in the report statistics. If we look at adoption rates of robotics, for example, it’s very poor and there are a whole host of reasons for that. Some people point to government support when comparing us to strong manufacturing countries such as Germany.

AM: The market is now changing quite dramatically. Customers are expecting far more personalised products and high levels of customisation, and changing from mass production to mass customisation is going to be challenging.

Now is the time where we could look at implementing advanced manufacturing technologies powered by AI to catch this wave of customers.

How would you evaluate UK government policies regarding AI and digital transformation in manufacturing – are they acting as a catalyst or an obstacle for the industry’s growth?

JB: A catalyst. We can all point fingers and say more could be done in a certain area, but we have great programmes like Made Smarter here in the UK. The amount of funding allocated to it is relatively small compared to other commitments but the small pockets of money for smaller businesses are enough to get them started.

What specific policy or governmental support do you believe is most urgently needed to ensure the UK’s manufacturing sector remains competitive in an increasingly AI-driven global market?

JB: From the report it would suggest that grants and monetary incentives are most important, however, I don’t think it is the most urgent – data and knowledge are. The government has tried to fix this problem with support in policies such as effective management, tutoring, vision and it hasn’t worked.

Now, we are faced with a more cultural issue. Twenty-two-year-old consultants are going into 50 year old pedigree family businesses, telling executives what they should do, and it doesn’t always work well. We used to have something in the UK called The Manufacturing Advisory Service which provided support and advice locally to small and medium-sized enterprises and was run by industry experts. Many would like to see this, or something similar, return. For now, the solution will require more thinking.

AM: A while back we conducted an experiment called the Digital Catalyst Programme, where we took second-year students from mechanical engineering or product design courses across the UK and placed them in a manufacturing company before they graduated.

The student was instructed to have a look around, pick something and fix it. The response was phenomenal. We had digitally native and curious students partnering with existing engineering professionals and forming a co-mentoring relationship. To an organisation, those young people brought with them a level of digital maturity. Now, if we did it again, the amount of knowledge and awareness around AI in that student base would be high and could have huge benefits for the business and the future of the sector.

For more on the highlights and takeaways from the report, click here.