Artificial Intelligence: A Game Changer For Manufacturers

Amidst closures and cutdowns, leadership teams continue to stay on AI

- Mat Khan

EVEN AS THE DISRUPTION CAUSED BY THE pandemic in the manufacturing and supply chain industries makes companies hold back investment in high technology; leadership teams continue to look for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address their revenue generation and cost effectiveness concerns.

“A large number of manufacturing companies, and supply chains as a collateral, have had to halt their operations. Many SMEs and large manufacturing plants have halted or postponed any new technology upgrade in their factories in order to recover from the losses caused by the lockdown and economic slowdown,” says Sangram Kadam, Vice President and Head (APAC and META) at Birlasoft.

At the same time, 94% of the 200 chief executives surveyed in India by PwC in August-September 2020, affirmed of either having adapted or planning to adopt AI in their organizations.

Talking to industry experts about challenges in adaptation of new technologies in the background of the disruptions caused by pandemic, some issues find common resonance.

Inability or inattention to quantify benefits of adaptation of new technologies in terms of ROI, unavailability of applicable data, shortage of talent, disparate incompatible nature of the data available, inadequate storage facilities and slow response time are some of the issues that find common resonance among industry watcher. Extent and pace of digitization in the country, inadequate availability and training of talents, privacy and security concerns and employee resistance to change are some of the other challenges, it is felt.

QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS