Reshaping Manufacturing Engineering with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have been hot topics for almost every industry especially for those that equip extensive manpower services like manufacturing engineering. The idea behind incorporating automated and tiresome engineering techniques together is to initiate smart production lines while easing complex manufacturing tasks. Engineers and tech geeks are working closely to design and improve tasks over time with little or no human intervention. Although, the progress is lethargic there are some automobile companies at the forefront using AI and RPA (Robot Process Automation) for simple and complex engineering tasks as well.

Intelligent engineering will become mainstream.

Intelligent engineering was first initiated nearly 40 years ago by the witty guys at Dassault Systèmes when they were experimenting with digital, data-driven technology for automating manual tasks. Regardless AI and ML have made their big debut in other domain; engineering manufacturing ṁhas been a bit reluctant in taking a step ahead in the 4^th industrial revolution. However, the revolution is inevitable like Computer-Aided Design (CAD). When CAD was introduced, it was considered and adopted by fewer manufacturing engineering services companies and that too as a supplemental tool to engineering. And, today it has become a fundamental process of the daily workflow. The amalgamation of futuristic technologies with wearisome engineering models will provide a big help to engineers in exploring uncountable design ideas and opportunities that weren’t ever possible before.

This is just the beginning as many opportunities are still in vague stage.

Engineering processes in tandem with AI has the potency to break down silos between countable departments helping engineers to effectively manage and monitor data to glean necessary insights. Moreover, the incorporation can automate various low-key tasks while setting engineers free for complex and multi-faceted tasks where human intervention is obligatory. And, this is all the beginning as the real potential of AI in engineering is still need to be unveiled.

Does this mean AI will eliminate engineers’ jobs?

There are many benefits of AI and ML in manufacturing engineering, but some engineers fear that their jobs will be taken over by machines. Automation indeed has and will keep on taking human jobs positions but has also created new job vacancies only accomplished by humans. According to a study, ‘One Hundred Year Study of Artificial Intelligence’, conducted by Stanford University, “There’s nothing imminent about the threat to jobs, and even when or if we get there, it will be balanced out by the positive impacts on society and the increased capabilities technology offers.” It also states that science and engineering professions are such fields that are the least threatened and will concurrently witness huge benefits from AI tools.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are the inevitable future of advanced or intelligent engineering. While several notable questions still remain there, it is fruitless to resist the transformation. Undoubtedly, these futuristic technologies will bring irresistible opportunities for coping complex engineering problems while utilizing data more efficiently. The sooner it’s adopted and adapted; the sooner it is better for manufacturing engineering services.