{"id":72747,"date":"2024-11-20T05:13:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T13:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/?p=72747"},"modified":"2024-11-20T07:56:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T15:56:35","slug":"design-manufacturing-industry-future-au-2024-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/design-manufacturing-industry-future-au-2024-panel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Design & Manufacturing: Insights from Industry Leaders at AU 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this compelling panel conversation that took place at Autodesk University 2024, Srinath Jonnalagadda, VP of Industry Strategy for Design & Manufacturing at Autodesk sat down with three distinguished industry leaders from Kia Motors, Kennametal, and Bridgestone to discuss the future of design and manufacturing.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the full panel here, and read the transcript below.<\/em><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Srinath Jonnalagadda<\/em>: So, why does digital and data transformation matter to your business? <\/h4>\n\n\n

Dr Carlonda Reilly, Chief Technology Officer at Kennametal: <\/strong>Part of our vision for digital transformation is to automate pre-manufacturing steps in the production of industrial parts or components and to make that automated process a widely available, \u201ceasy-to-use” experience for customers. In a typical manufacturing value chain, tool data exists in silos and must be shared manually\u2014with customer CAM programmers and throughout the value chain. The inefficiencies can lead to various issues, such as initial tool breakage, poor part quality and very frustrated operators, etc. So, we want to eliminate the silos and integrate tooling know-how, tool data, Fusion software and machines. So, the data would flow throughout the value chain, optimizing manufacturing paths automatically, and making it possible to produce the part right the first time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andy Warren, Senior Manager for Engineering Services at Bridgestone:<\/strong> <\/strong>Like Carlonda said, we also need to remove those data silos that slow us down. Our own digital transformation has stemmed from a variety of industry factors to optimize our operations. We have to run our factories 24\/7 because, well, rubber doesn\u2019t like to get cold! With that round-the-clock production, we need to hit new operational efficiencies, especially as we face huge labor shortages. The digital transformation for our smart factory really covers everything from the actual built environment to the machinery, plant layout, and everything in between. Our transformation is not a sudden overhaul but a series of incremental improvements leveraging technology to meet market demands and sustainability goals.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voho Seo:<\/strong> <\/strong>I believe digital transformation is crucial for everyone\u2014especially in the design field, One of the biggest advantages is being able to archive data from past projects and leverage it for future ones. Accessing datasets and finding references that fit our specific situation is a huge benefit. This makes our jobs easier and keeps consistency in our work. The way we work is going to be different from it is now, and these data sets will play a crucial role. They will be more than references. They will be assets to train AI to understand our workflow. Knowledge transfer is key to using AI effectively across industries. Think of AI as a new team member. It needs training. Without our own data sets, it\u2019s going to be tough to train it properly. For us, especially in the mobility industry, data security is crucial and that\u2019s why it\u2019s important that AI systems are built and trained based on our own data sets.   <\/p>\n\n\n

AI as a team member\u2014I love that analogy! Voho, can you share more about your journey with AI and the design process? <\/h4>\n\n\n

Voho Seo, Lead AI Designer at Kia Motors: <\/strong>In design, there\u2019s no single correct answer. That\u2019s why designers go back and forth, exploring different ideas and navigating the uncertainty that comes with it. We saw opportunities with AI. Could AI break the idea fixation and amplify designers’ creativity? With this question in mind, we started looking for a research partner who understood both AI and design. And we were luckily able to start a year-long research collaboration with the Autodesk Research Team<\/a>. We learned a lot from this experience, and I\u2019d like to share three key things. First, introducing AI is like onboarding a team member. You can\u2019t hand them a job and expect them to get it right away. We need to fully understand how our processes work so we can figure out how to transfer the knowledge to the AI. We also had to spend time and effort figuring out what our design process was like and the knowledge behind it. Second, to team with AI, understanding its strength is also crucial. What\u2019s remarkable here is both AI and designers use texts and images to create something new. Designers gather inspiration from images and express them with adjective keywords, while AI uses similar inputs to generate new images. This means AI can mirror the way designers work, so by feeding specific images, we can guide AI to generate what we\u2019re looking for instead of generating random images. Finally, human insights remain to be our most competitive value in the age of AI. We can\u2019t let AI decide everything. Tasks like establishing and nurturing brand value and design philosophy should be done by humans. But AI can be a great partner alongside us to make the process smoother and faster. There are still a lot of things to do, but we\u2019re excited about what\u2019s next with our strong partnership with Autodesk.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carlonda, shifting back to manufacturing, where do you see the future of AI heading for you? <\/h4>\n\n\n

Dr Carlonda Reilly:<\/strong> <\/strong>AI will give us the ability to fulfill our ultimate vision of making the part \u201cright the first time.\u201d We have ways to go, but with more digital data available through Fusion, we will be able to build a \u201clearned\u201d digital eco-system that can be accessed by all our machining customers. And in particular, small and medium job shops who might need to rely more and more on this capability. <\/p>\n\n\n

Speaking of innovation, Carlonda, how are you innovating your own manufacturing processes to get closer to that vision? <\/h4>\n\n\n

Dr Carlonda Reilly: <\/strong>Kennametal has been on its own digital transformation in manufacturing for several years. We work on design automation and digital data and utilize CAM in our own processes to make our innovative tools in the most efficient way. Because we are integrating our tool data with Fusion, we can also bring the best tooling and manufacturing solutions to our customers as well. I think we all have heard about the growing trend in the manufacturing industry where experienced programmers and operators are retiring. The loss of this know-how is resulting in a growing skills gap within the industry. We believe this trend will have more impact within small and medium job shops, which rely heavily on external tooling expertise like Kennametal provides. So, we are asking ourselves\u2014how can we extend our technical reach to effectively support these customers? Our vision is for our customers to have easy access to an automated eco-system where our tool data is integrated with Fusion, and through our Collaboration Space<\/a>, customers not only can access our advice for the best tooling solutions, but they also will be able to access the best machining strategy to do their job. So young (and old), less experienced engineers and operators can gain access to all the knowledge and information they need to manufacture products faster, and more cost-effectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n