Roses are red, violets are blue, if you love machine maintenance, this playlist is for you… Inspired by Valentine’s Day, our creative team at Augury brought together 30 songs that express love for machines. Now, let’s make that machine love go around 24-7-365!

30 Songs … 105 Minutes … 100% Machine Love … Check it out, share on social media, and add your own suggestions!

Our esteemed colleagues Asaf Goral and Sara Emmons came up with this great idea of a playlist of machine-loving songs. Listen and enjoy. Let us know if anything is missing… And keep on fixing what needs fixing!

‘Love Machine’ by Billy Griffin, The Miracles … ‘Heat Of The Moment’ by Asia … ‘Tighten Up’ by The Black Keys … ‘Good Vibrations’ by The Beach Boys … ‘Build Me up Buttercup’ by The Foundations … ‘Groove Is in the Heart’ by Deee-Lite … ‘Electric Love’ by BØRNS … ‘Grease’ by Frankie Valli … ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ by Elton John, Kiki Dee … ‘Heat Waves’ by Glass Animals … ‘Breakdown’ by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers … ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)’ by Stevie Wonder … ‘Downtime’ by Jo Dee Messina … ‘The Fixer’ by Pearl Jam … ‘Sparks’ by Coldplay … ‘Pump Up The Jam’ by Technotronic … ‘I Walk the Line’ by Johnny Cash … ‘Sledgehammer’ by Peter Gabriel … ‘The Chain’ by Fleetwood Mac … ‘(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave’ by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas … ‘How Can You Mend A Broken Heart’ by Bee Gees … ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ by The Go-Go’s … ‘Let’s Groove’ by Earth, Wind & Fire … ‘Temperature’ by Sean Paul … ‘Fix’n To Break’ by Bailey Zimmerman …’Electric Feel’ by MGMT … Sparks Fly (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift … ‘Heartbreaker’ by Pat Benatar … ‘Good Vibrations’ by Loleatta Holloway, Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch … ‘I Melt with You’ buy Modern English …

30 Songs … 105 Minutes … 100% Machine Love … Check it out, share on social media, and add your own suggestions!

The post Love Is In The (rep)Air: 30 Songs About Machine Love appeared first on Augury.

Manufacturers see efficiency and savings, so why is the industry moving too slowly for its own good, and the good of consumers?

When industrial food supply chains slowed to a crawl or fractured outright during the Covid pandemic, attention turned toward governments–what could be done to get things back on track? And when food prices around the world soared last year, people again asked leaders to intervene. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s recent Farm to Fork summit, which aimed to address the country’s multi-layered food supply-chain issues, brought attention and some investment to the problems, but was considered either a well meaning yet ineffective first step, or a blatant PR stunt. Mr. Sunak is also in the midst of trying to address inflation by working directly with supermarkets. In the U.S., interest rate hikes and price-gouging investigations provided mixed results, though manufacturing and supply chain investments have been cheered by most as an essential move to help make the industry more competitive through advanced technology. 

While government oversight and investment is crucial to the industry’s safety and its move toward 4.0 maturity, the real solution could be in industrial AI technology, which is beginning to have real, measurable impact on everything from food quality to plant-floor efficiencies, with benefits for both manufacturers and consumers.

The State of AI in Food and Beverage Manufacturing

In data collected for “The State of Production Health 2023” survey, Augury found that confidence in AI’s capabilities is quite high among food and beverage manufacturing professionals:

• 37% believe AI could help them achieve quality, yield, and throughput goals
• 32% say AI could help them optimize asset care
• 26% say AI would assist them in controlling the cost of materials and energy

This confidence in AI technology is translating to actual adoption in the industry, with supply chain optimization, tracking energy consumption, and overall production health being the top three use cases. Yet, it appears that food and beverage players are missing one of the most impactful AI use cases in the industry: AI-driven machine health. Just 9% of manufacturers say they try to improve machine health and reliability using AI tools, far below the average of 28% across other industries. 

This is a surprisingly low number given the success many food and beverage manufacturers experience after deploying machine health solutions. For instance, Augury’s Machine Health helped one of the world’s largest food and beverage manufacturers document less machine downtime and fewer unexpected breakdowns, while also helping them lower spending on replacement parts and avoid the loss of more than one million pounds of product. 

Looking at another finding in the report helps explain why the industry might be hesitant to embrace AI more fully. When asked about their ability to quantify the impact of AI in meeting business objectives, their self-reported scores revealed a disconnect between how AI was being used and how its impact was being measured. 

For which of the following areas are you able to quantify the impact of AI in meeting business objectives?

• Improving production health: 15%
• Reducing loss, wastes, and emissions: 15%
• Maximizing yield and capacity: 14%
• Reducing machine downtime: 12%

So while AI is being used across organizations, including on the plant floor, businesses are still in the dark when it comes to understanding how or if the technology is paying off, either flying blind or lost in a sea of data they can’t act on. Those gaps need to be filled in order for the industry to find true success with AI. 

Still, there are AI bright spots for food and beverage manufacturers. Rising investment is one such area, with nearly 14% of respondents saying their companies planned to invest significantly more in AI in 2023 and 60% saying they plan to invest at least slightly more. 

The survey also revealed encouraging statistics around workforce and AI: 

• 78% say AI, IoT, and Machine Learning will positively impact their workforce upskilling efforts
• 29% say AI and advanced technologies will help create new jobs in the manufacturing industry

These workforce findings will come as a beacon of hope in an industry where 73% of employers face hiring challenges.  

How Food and Beverage Manufacturers Will Advance their AI Journey 

The industry is ticking some boxes when it comes to AI–they’re deploying it where it can help both the business and, ultimately, the consumer, such as for production health, process optimization, and materials and energy efficiency; and they are incorporating the technology with the workforce as part of their upskilling plans. But they are also not getting full ROI from their solutions, which means they are not meeting their true production potential, not lowering costs, and not working fast enough toward Industry 4.0 standards. 

First, each food and beverage manufacturer–and every other industry, of course–should understand AI for what it can do for them specifically, and not view it as a cure-all. That means using it as a purpose-built tool applied to their biggest production challenges–like machine downtime, food quality, or energy tracking. 

Second, manufacturers need to find AI that works with and for the people using it. Most companies using AI to its full potential know that the technology is a co-pilot, a way to give workers more capabilities  while advancing their skills at the same time. 

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, AI solutions should be more than a technology. It should come with end-to-end services, analysts, system integration managers, trainers, and change management assistance to ensure adoption and value-at-scale. 

Advances in AI are changing the manufacturing world, giving companies the information they need to improve their machine reliability, optimize processes, and transform their operations. That means they can save time and money, and those savings can be passed on to shoppers through lower prices. The good news is that the sooner manufacturers start or expand the use of AI solutions, the sooner the benefits will show up for businesses and consumers alike. 

Read the full “State of Production Health” report. Then see how Augury’s AI can deliver value to your manufacturing business.

The post Why Food & Beverage Makers Should Fast-track AI  appeared first on Augury.

An AI-driven sustainability strategy can unlock a world of business benefits, including overcoming conflicting production objectives, empowering the workforce, and meeting regulatory requirements.

Can sustainability deliver better business outcomes? There’s no doubt: Cleaner, less wasteful production also optimizes them for efficiency, safety, uptime, and capacity, which all lead to more profitable operations.

Meet the Experts

Allison Kuhn is an analyst with LNS Research, an advisory and research organization focused on best practices in industrial transformation for operations and technology leaders. James Newman is Head of Product and Portfolio Marketing at Augury. In episode 4 of Flip this Factory, James and Allison discussed how sustainability trends are reshaping the manufacturing industry.

#1: Improve Revenue, Operating Margins, and COGS

Only a few years ago, improving sustainability and ESG performance ranked among the lowest of the options when manufacturers were asked which trends were impacting business the most. But there’s been a dramatic shift: Today it’s often listed as one of the top three most impactful business trends. Here’s why:

• 86% of those with sustainability as Imperative grew revenues by at least 3%
• 85% of those with sustainability as Imperative improved operating margins 
• by at least 3%
• 82% of those with sustainability as Imperative reduced cost of goods sold (COGS) by at least 3%

#2: Win the War for Talent By Redefining Manufacturing Work

Research finds that more than 70% of job seekers are not interested in manufacturing careers. Worse, a large majority of manufacturing workers would not recommend manufacturing as a career. coming to work for manufacturers. How can sustainability strategies help manufacturing companies overcome this trend and reimagine industrial work to counter the “dirty, dull, and dangerous” reputation? It starts with understanding the values of the “next gen” workforce. 

“You can’t pay your way out of this issue,” Allison explained. As digital natives, this group demands work that incorporates digital technologies. But that’s just the start. “The future of industrial work “is about meaningful work, it’s about showing them that you’re doing something for the greater good, you’re not being wasteful, and you’re really interested in not just improving the lives of the workforce, but improving our overall footprint on the planet.” 

Which is exactly what sustainable practices can deliver: new ways of working that emphasize the more thoughtful use of resources, employee health and safety, and prioritizing efficient machines and processes–for the good of the business, consumers, and the environment. 

#3: Adopt Emerging Technologies

Technology is not a silver bullet. So when and how should companies wield new IoT or AI tools in ways that will help the business, its employees, and its ESG or sustainability efforts? 

“One of the biggest gaps is that people don’t know what data they need in order to drive improvements,” Allison explained. “So the cost effectiveness and availability of sensors and edge technology to give you that information, real time from the floor, has significantly improved.”

Business leaders adopt emerging technologies at a substantially higher rate than non-leaders. But it’s not about embracing the latest technology; it’s about embracing technology that provides significant returns. 

Allison pointed to a few examples. “Right now, we have a lot of folks educating executives on the investments needed to get to net zero. There are systems that can [calculate and understand] their true emissions. We have systems that are looking at people issues–do we have the right PPE, are we ergonomically safe or not? And a lot of these things are filling in the gaps that we’ve seen in the past.” 

The post 3 Ways Sustainability Is Changing Manufacturing for the Good appeared first on Augury.

What’s your plan for increasing output? More yield and capacity are possible, if you’re ready to shine a light on outdated approaches and work on tapping into hidden operational reserves. 

Are poor forecasting, production inefficiencies, and machine downtime making continuous improvement difficult to achieve? Follow these three insights to create output strategies that will positively impact your people, processes, and bottom line.

Meet the Experts

Adam Kilgore is Maintenance and Reliability Leader at Hill’s Pet Nutrition, a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive, and has amassed more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing. 

Ed Ballina is the founder of OpEx Consulting, a former VP of Manufacturing and Warehousing at PepsiCo, and a 40-year veteran of the manufacturing industry. 

Adam and Ed spoke with Augury’s Chris Dobbrow about how they have succeeded in reducing inefficiencies on and off the plant floor and how manufacturers can start getting recognizable value from AI and IoT technologies.

#1: Know your problem before trying to solve your problem

Manufacturing can be a slow-moving industry, and it’s struggling to adapt to a tech-focused world that changes quickly. How can industrial organizations overcome this stagnation?

Technology is useless if it’s not directed at a specific problem–your specific problem. It can be tempting to get distracted by the latest shiny object, and many manufacturers have gotten burned by that approach. The only way to overcome your challenges is to know them well, from every vantage point. 

That means doing the work: Map your processes, perform criticality assessments, and understand what’s holding you back. When you start with solving a specific problem, you’re much more likely to find the technology that can help you. And once you have that, think big, demonstrate value every step of the way, and give people a stake in the game. 

“Don’t be nearsighted,” Adam emphasized. “Look at the long-term vision–you’re building a culture. You’re transforming your processes from a run-to-failure mode to a condition-based maintenance system.”

“Personally, I’m an unabashed early adopter,” admitted Ed. But when it comes to his business, that changes. Keep your challenge front and center, he argues, and don’t be distracted by the shiny object. “I don’t need to know how the magic in the black box works. I need actionable insights I can do something about.”

#2: Make employees the key to better output

Adam teed it up perfectly: “Put people first.” With so much attention on AI and IoT these days (and forever more), it can be tempting to make tech investment the primary focus as you look to maximize your output. But it’s vital to bring people into that technology adoption process as early as possible. Doing so will give individuals and teams more stake in the game, motivate them to gain new skills, and increase trust across the board. 

Expanding on that point, Ed called for manufacturers to rethink their reward systems. Historically, maintenance workers who could walk into a plant and, tools in hand, fix a failed machine were heroes on the plant floor. Today the heroes are those who can use incoming data to see problems before they happen, saving time, money, and effort before tools even enter the picture. The physical tools will always be important, but plant workers need to add predictive insights to their toolboxes.

As Adam put it, “Trust in God. All others must bring data.”

#3: Look everywhere, evaluate everything

Getting control over processes can feel like herding cats. With overlapping and interdependent inputs happening on multiple production fronts, how can manufacturers cut through the complexity and make meaningful progress? 

“Get out on the shop floor,” Adam advised. Meetings and board rooms and computer screens are not enough, because the shop floor is where money is made, value is added, and problems can be clearly seen. 

Bridging those divergent perspectives is paramount. If corporate leaders have an overly rosy view of operations, but plant floor teams are struggling, that’s a recipe for disaster, according to Ed. “We are still in crisis manufacturing,” he said, an environment exacerbated by COVID, when what the industry needs is precision manufacturing. Getting product out the door is your primary goal, but it can’t be the only goal. When it is, you miss opportunities for making small changes that result in big, across-the-board benefits. 

Adam stressed that a process is only as complex as you make it, and revisiting and evaluating the inputs and outputs is essential. “The best thing you can do is get rid of the waste and get rid of your variability within your processes. You’ll see better output and less complexity when you go through those exercises.”

The post Efficiency Everywhere: 3 Strategies for Boosting Productivity at Your Plant appeared first on Augury.