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“Industrial AI” is a term used to describe cases in which artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are integrated into industrial settings with the goal of optimizing production processes, enhancing safety, or increasing efficiency. When AI is leveraged as part of a larger technological ecosystem, rather than as an isolated technology, it has the potential to have a significant impact on a business’s efficiency and sustainability.
Leading industrial AI provider Eugenie, founded by CEO Dr. Soudip Roy Chowdhury, specializes in offering industrial AI programs that optimize industrial operations and help reduce emissions. “Eugenie uses a combination of domain knowledge, physics-based models, and satellite data processing to help clients reduce emissions, optimize production, and increase efficiency,” says Dr. Chowdhury. “In one use case, Eugenie’s industrial AI system helps process engineers simulate different scenarios in a digital twin of the production process to reduce emissions. This allows engineers to predict the impact of different process changes before implementing them, saving time and money while reducing environmental impact.”
Businesses in all industrial sectors can benefit from artificial intelligence, including manufacturing, mining, energy, and oil and gas. “Any business that relies on data and automation can benefit from incorporating industrial AI into their operations,” says Dr. Chowdhury. “Manufacturing companies can optimize production processes, improve quality, and reduce emissions by predicting and preventing equipment failures. Energy and utility companies can improve the efficiency of power plants, optimize energy usage, and reduce costs. Mining companies can prevent equipment failures, improve the safety of the workers, and increase throughput. These are just a few examples of the many industries that could benefit from industrial AI.”
Industrial AI and sustainability
According to the International Energy Agency, the steel and cement sectors each contribute around 7% of total energy system CO2 emissions, while the chemical industry contributes a further 4%. “Industrial organizations’ sustainability strategies will play a critical role in determining both their current and long-term success, but striking a balance between profitability, sustainability, and efficacy can be challenging,” says Dr. Chowdhury. “By combining multiple cutting-edge technologies, industrial AI can significantly improve the productivity of industrial equipment and procedures, resulting in reduced waste and emissions, and increased efficiency.”
According to Dr. Chowdhury, industrial AI is the tool that will enable businesses to pursue the next step in sustainability. “Making public emissions reduction commitments is only the first major step,” he says. “Many have begun to make a substantial investment in alternative energy sources, which is great, but the next step is for companies to reduce emissions at source from their current manufacturing assets.”
This source reduction is a multi-step process that can be significantly aided by AI-powered technologies. First, manufacturers must baseline current emissions levels and compare them to standard levels to identify any “excess.” Then, organizations must perform root-cause analysis to allow mitigation and rectification to move emissions from excess to normal. Thanks to its superior data processing capabilities, artificial intelligence can help in these detection, analysis, and monitoring tasks.
The use of industrial AI empowers business leaders to make more responsible decisions regarding their sustainability goals. “Using machine learning algorithms, industrial AI solutions identify patterns in data, enabling operators to make more informed decisions,” Dr. Chowdhury explains. “Industrial AI solutions reduce the reliance on technical expertise, allowing operators to make more informed decisions using real-time data and insights generated by AI algorithms. This approach also ensures the decision-making process is consistent and replicable, even as the workforce changes and evolves.”
How industrial AI helps businesses reach sustainability initiatives
Eugenie’s artificial intelligence tool has a strong potential to track and calculate industrial emissions and sustainability risks. “Using machine learning algorithms, Eugenie tracks energy consumption and process emissions to identify high-emitting assets and processes,” says Dr. Chowdhury. “This data is then used to set sustainability goals and prioritize tasks that improve productivity and sustainability. Industrial AI solutions also help reduce risk by predicting and preventing potential problems before they occur.”
It can take time for industrial AI to have a significant impact on operations, but in most cases, it is possible to see effects in as little as a few weeks to a few months. “It takes time to form the necessary infrastructure connections to unlock data streams — and the data flowing from those streams to demonstrate patterns and trends — on which meaningful analytics can occur,” Dr. Chowdhury explains. “These products result in faster data-to-decision times for IT/OT teams. Certain cutting-edge industrial AI disruptors, such as Eugenie, reduce the time-to-value from a few weeks to a few days. Once implemented, the data-based predictive and preventive insights of Eugenie enable operations teams in heavy industries to discard manual data processing. Analytics on high-volume industrial data enables Eugenie to predict the next possible equipment failure with at least 90% accuracy.”
One of the biggest mistakes industrial companies can make, per Dr. Chowdhury, is to attempt to solve individual problems, rather than look at the big picture. “Many companies in the sustainability and climate tech area focus on individual pieces of the emissions tracking and management puzzle, such as carbon accounting or emissions benchmarking,” he explains. “However, Eugenie provides a comprehensive solution that covers everything from measuring emissions to reducing them and delegating management actions. Therefore, Eugenie is a one-stop shop for CSOs and operations teams who want to effectively manage and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”
Industrial AI is the future of the industrial sector. “Industrial AI has the potential to revolutionize the way industries operate, making them more efficient and cost-effective while reducing their environmental footprint,” Dr. Chowdhury concludes. “With advances in AI technology and the growing availability of data, the use of industrial AI is likely to become increasingly prevalent in the years ahead. The time to act is now, and adopting industrial AI can provide a competitive advantage in a world increasingly focused on sustainability.”
