More than 10 companies have already signed up to work with a centre set up to help the manufacturing sector use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency, cut costs and create business opportunities.
Established by A*Star and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Sectoral AI Centre of Excellence for Manufacturing (AIMfg) aims to help drive AI adoption in a sector where incorporating AI has been difficult due to the need for accuracy, expertise and integration with old systems.
For instance, AI can tap data from a manufacturing plant’s sensors to indicate when maintenance is needed for its components, rather than having a company follow a fixed schedule, which can be inefficient.
Potential clients can test the use of such AI solutions at AIMfg, which was launched on Sept 27 by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong. AIMfg shares the facilities of the A*Star Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre, located in Cleantech Loop.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry, said he had often been told that “the manufacturing sector is the most difficult sector to start (using) AI”.
But that should not stop the sector — which contributes a fifth of Singapore’s gross domestic product and employs an eighth of the workforce — from finding ways to use AI to improve its efficiency and operations, he added.
AIMfg is part of the strategy to set up centres of excellence across multiple industries to drive innovation, as outlined in Parliament earlier in 2024, said Mr Gan.
A*Star has developed a range of standard AI models for manufacturing uses that can be readily customised to clients’ needs in areas including quality assurance, predictive maintenance and industrial automation.
