You can’t hide, AI is here, but the pressing question is: can we use it for real business outcomes by ensuring our business solutions have accurate validated real-time information? The IT and Operations professionals, whether at Director or Manager level, have responsibility to deliver the whole solution, the validated data, in real-time into the business. This is likely to then use a multi layered set of AI tools that relies on data accuracy. The ultimate target is to have this information in one place, one version of the truth, your QAD Adaptive ERP solution.

Taking this further, Nico Rosberg has a very relevant perspective on the use of data which resonates well with the need to have trusted, accurate real-time information to enable quick decisions.

“Data is more important than your ego. In the car, you feel when you go fast. And you can convince yourself that you nailed the lap. But often when you look at the data, it tells you something else. I learned to trust the numbers over my own feelings. Same in venture. Your instincts, of course, matter, but the data wins.” – Nico Rosberg, Founder Rosberg Ventures, 2016 F1 World Champion

AI is everywhere; you cannot open LinkedIn without being bombarded. We run the risk of being rapidly overwhelmed by fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) on a personal use level, but also in the way our businesses look to make use of it without laying the groundwork. When IT professionals are thinking about setting up to introduce AI tools and solutions, you need to address how your data is constantly changing, where it is coming from, and what is influencing it. Thus, ensuring it is good, accurate and real-time.

With the whole AI story in mind, we can look at how some businesses are mitigating the AI data risk with solutions designed to improve the integrity of their data.

Within production and manufacturing facilities there are many isolated automation devices, conveyors, vision and RFID, robots, picking solutions and software like MES solutions that are standalone or appear to be, but are creating and recording data. That data can be left redundant, and at best either recognised as useful or manually entered into a business solution.

Without automatically updating your ERP system real-time you do not have the single source of truth your business needs. For a successful AI solution, you need to remove the risk of inherent errors this can bring, from manual input to lack of real-time updates.

What impact can a machine, device or solution integration bring to your operation?

Automating data capture with Eagle’s Continuous Transaction Processor (CTP) solution has seen everything from simple production line data feeds for counting, through RFID, Vision and integration with mini-automated warehouse solutions.

A recently delivered project with Merrychef – an Ali Group Company – in line with their QAD Adaptive upgrade program that followed a rollout project to automate the Fabrication process using a MES software platform, Merrychef found that time was consistently lost when a single user took postings generated from the previous day and manually receipted, via Backflush (BKF), all fabrications processed into QAD. This equated to 2.5hrs per day just booking the previous day’s work.

To streamline the process and save that 2.5 hours the CTP solution was setup to perform the BKF transaction in real-time, which then removed the need for manual booking and saved 2.5 hours per day on just one workstation.

Further savings were realised when users reported any scrap generated during the Fabrication process. Scrap is moved from the default BKF location to a Scrap location. In this case the MES system generated the BKF processing details and in the same file included the inventory transfer (TRN) transaction thus eliminating the manual stock transfer in QAD. The Quality Department would then just review the items and quantity within the Scrap location on QAD and then, via manual review, investigate the trends in failures in real time rather than waiting for someone to advise that scrapped items had appeared in physical locations.

“The whole process for Fabrication backflush via CTP is so good, that the Merrychef Brand is now looking to automate the Finished Goods MFR using RFID tags to trigger the BKF process on CTP at set stations, again taking out the human element to automate the whole MFR process from FAB-BKF to FGS-BKF to WAREHOUSE-TRN all via CTP.” – Graham Marshall, Lead Business System Analyst – EMEA

We can learn from many years of drive from the Automotive vertical, OEM, through Tiers 1, 2, etc. pushing for 100% stock accuracy, zero error shipping and validation, track and trace through the manufacturing process.