When iPhone first launched in 2007, few consumers imagined that in a scant decade, we’d be controlling our phones with nothing but our voices. Artificial intelligence (AI) such as Siri, Alexa, and even IBM’s Watson surround our everyday lives. AI already answers all manner of questions, from the weather to setting reminders to turning lights and thermostats on and off. But, when coupled with an ERP such as SYSPRO, AI can begin answering questions about your business that you may not have even thought to ask yet.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways AI and your ERP can partner to help your manufacturing and distribution business flourish.

1. Smart Maintenance

Likely, most of us have had a moment where a piece of technology breaks down or freezes at the most inopportune moment, and we say, “If only we had known.” AI can give you that foresight through predictive maintenance. Using AI algorithms and machine learning, predictive maintenance will create predictions on your next malfunction, giving you a heads-up long before a valuable piece of equipment goes down. Not only does this help reduce the major expense of maintenance and repairs, it also saves you money by reducing unplanned downtime.

2. Rise to a Higher Level of Quality

In the drive to meet both deadlines and regulations, manufacturing businesses might find it harder and harder to maintain their high levels of quality. Yet customers are even more relentless in their demand for top-quality products. Fortunately, AI comes to the rescue.

Once again, through AI algorithms, systems can notify teams of possible production faults that may result in quality issues. These production faults can range from recipe deviations, small changes in machine behavior, even a subtle difference in raw materials. The sooner you can catch the potential issue, the higher quality you can maintain.

AI and machines can also catch quality issues that the human eye cannot detect, such as microscopic defects in circuit boards. Not only does the machine “see” the problem, it then processes the information to learn from what it sees, sending an alert any time a defect is spotted.

Beyond your manufacturing floor, AI quality can also use data about how your products function in the field to develop further quality and design improvements.

3. Build a Better Widget

Creating a new product used to be a long road of trial and error, manufacturing a part only to have it fail, then refining, remanufacturing, and more testing until you found a design that did not fail. Now, optimizing a new design can be done electronically. Engineers input their parameters, materials, manufacturing methods, costs, and overall design goals into a design software. The software takes all the provided information and “creates” design options, using machine learning to test each iteration in a virtual space and significantly shortening the time needed to engineer a new part or product.

SYSPRO AI and PositiveVision: A Smart Choice

Whether you’re already deep in the use of AI or just now getting comfortable calling out, “Hey Siri,” when you have a question, there’s no denying that AI is becoming more deeply entrenched in our way of doing things. Leveraging AI’s capabilities for your manufacturing and distribution should be a no-brainer, especially if it means improving your bottom line, reducing down time, and the opportunity to improve current products and build incredible new ones.

Ready to see how AI can connect to your ERP? With SYSPRO AI, your team can rely on AI to manage ERP specific functions and answer questions before you even know you have them. Together with PositiveVision, your team can experience all the incredible advances of SYSPRO AI to quickly and easily surface key insights and drive improved business behavior.

See what SYSPRO AI can do for you today. Connect with one of our experts now for more information.