Old ideas based on what was yesterday’s tomorrow won’t get you to today’s tomorrow!
— Jim Carroll
The opportunity
Accelerate the potential for rapid prototyping, customized part production, on-demand manufacturing, and the creation of complex geometries, leading to faster product development and supply chain optimization.
From “Daily Inspiration: “Old ideas based on what was yesterday’s tomorrow won’t get you to today’s tomorrow!”” (March 2022)
One of the in-person events I’ve got coming up is a talk on the future of manufacturing, so I’m doing another deep dive into the latest trends impacting the sector. The keynote description that I’ve been using runs like this: “Collapsing product lifecycles and faster time to market. Mass customization. The connectivity of the Internet of things. Design based on crowd thinking. Robotics, the cloud and digitization. Rapid prototyping and deployment. 3D printing. Are you ready for the new world of manufacturing?”
Small examples provide insight into big changes. Case in point - 10 years ago, I spoke at an industry conference about the trend towards 3d printing, or additive manufacturing; to the audience of manufacturing executives, it seemed like some sort of science-fiction-like idea that might take years to make its impact felt. Today, my son regularly orders advanced parts and equipment for his smart garden setup from various custom 3d manufacturers. He’s doing precisely what I was speaking about as being the future just a short few years ago. 3d printing? It’s already going mainstream in aerospace, automotive, and countless other industries - it’s moved from ‘conceptual’ to ‘practical.’
The impact of the pandemic has made this transition even faster! Some months back, I was interviewed by the folks at the Robot Industry Podcast and provided an outline of the three different timelines of manufacturing trends. You can find it here. https://jimcarroll.com/2021/11/robotics-manufacturing-and-the-future-what-comes-next/
From “AI Megatrends - AI In Manufacturing: Further Accelerating the Automation of Everything - and going from $6.2 billion to $181 billion in 8 years!” (April 2023)
Among the benefits of artificial intelligence in Mexico’s manufacturing sector is supply chain optimization (companies can use machine learning algorithms to predict demand and adjust production accordingly, which can reduce costs and increase efficiency in the supply chain) and automated quality inspection (computer vision and machine learning algorithms can be used to identify defects in products during manufacturing, which can improve quality and reduce production costs).
Ikusi Mexico’s Director of Strategy and Product Development, Aurelio Sanchez, assured that artificial intelligence is a central element of the Industry 4.0 revolution, whose algorithms can be used to optimize manufacturing supply chains and thus help companies anticipate changes in the market. ” Artificial intelligence is already positively impacting the machine learning part. Let’s remember that all production lines move through data or variables. All this data is converted into models that allow optimizing production lines and generating greater efficiency,” he said, adding that in this way, artificial intelligence is linked to efficiency and, therefore, allows generating a much more favorable environment for companies, and although this industrial revolution is still in its early stages, it is already generating significant benefits in processes ranging from the design process and the production floor, to the supply chain and administration.
Supply chain optimization : Supply chain technology cranks out a lot of numbers and a lot of data - we can track each step of the ay in a very complex manufacturing process and beyond, all the way to the final delivery to a customer. AI plays an extremely sophisticated role in helping us to optimize inventory, analyze demand forecasting, manage our logistics, and highlight delivery and shipment exceptions, as well as provide detailed insight on distribution bottlenecks and challenges
From “Trend: The Future of Manufacturing Post-Covid - What Can You Expect?” (July 2021)
The folks at Applied Software, a leading purveyor of manufacturing software, invited me in to be the launch person for their new Forging Manufacturing podcast. We had so much to talk about that they turned it into two episodes! You can access it here .
I spend a lot of time providing trends oriented keynotes in the world of manufacturing, as detailed on the page The Disruption, Transformation, and Reinvention of Manufacturing
It was a great conversation. I also recorded it locally and did a quick edit to cut out the key sections - sans their questions - where I took on these three issues. It’s a good, succinct summary of the future of manufacturing. Here’s a playlist by which you can access these sections.
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Daily Inspiration: “Old ideas based on what was yesterday’s tomorrow won’t get you to today’s tomorrow!”
AI Megatrends - AI In Manufacturing: Further Accelerating the Automation of Everything - and going from $6.2 billion to $181 billion in 8 years!
Trend: The Future of Manufacturing Post-Covid - What Can You Expect?