ARLINGTON, VA—American manufacturers are eager to adopt artificial intelligence technology in their factories. In fact, the Manufacturers Alliance Foundation claims that many companies are already using AI today, with a significant focus on strategic business initiatives.

Some 93 percent of manufacturers recently surveyed have added new AI initiatives within the last 12 months, while another 6 percent are preparing to launch such initiatives.

Manufacturers expect AI to improve productivity, throughput and quality. And in time, provide significant topline benefits.

Manufacturers have been adding AI to the value stream in departments such as design and engineering; production and maintenance; quality; supply chain management; and warehousing and inventory.

“AI implementation is a natural evolution of manufacturing,” says Stephen Gold, president of the Manufacturers Alliance Foundation. “Adding language-based models to already tried and tested machine learning and industrial AI allows [applications] to accelerate at an advanced pace. [Manufacturers] are at the crux of transforming fiction into a key component of technology that improves operations and business functionality.”

According to Gold, finding new use cases of generative AI creates more opportunities for manufacturers to embrace long-term change. He also says that despite the learning curve, companies are discovering that AI helps solve existing problems more efficiently.

More than one half (55 percent) percent of respondents are prioritizing AI initiatives to strategic business objectives, while an additional 24 percent are focused on potential cost savings. At the same time, revenue growth is the top-ranking ROI expectation, followed by improved uptime and product quality.