Transforming Manufacturing Planning: Accelerating Efficiency and Cost Savings with AI-Driven Automation
The client came to Ample Insight to help them build a solution for manufacturers to auto-generate manufacturing plans and schedules from sales orders.
AI implementation can improve product quality by 35%
AI Statistics in Manufacturing, All About AI 2024
The Opportunity
Transforming Manufacturing with a Next-Generation ERP Platform
Our client, an innovative Silicon Valley company, sought to revolutionize manufacturing operations by creating a next-generation SaaS Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform. This platform aimed to streamline complex workflows by eliminating the need for manual planning and coding. However, to realize this vision, the solution needed to:
- Automate Manufacturing Planning: Automatically generate accurate and actionable manufacturing plans and schedules from diverse, non-standardized sales orders sourced from both global and local apparel brands.
- Optimize Resource Utilization: Efficiently coordinate resource allocation and dependency management across multiple factories and production lines while automating material procurement and inventory control to drive cost savings.
- Enhance Workflow Efficiency: Integrate configurable management approval processes into the workflow and automate the generation of detailed schedules, Gantt charts, and dependency graphs to ensure smooth project execution.
- 50% Utilizing AI and image recognition can boost factory productivity by 50%.
- 20% Manufacturers can increase production throughput by 20% with AI.
- 35% AI implementation can improve product quality by up to 35%.
The Solution
Developing an AI-Powered, Scalable Manufacturing System
The client partnered with Ample Insight to design and implement a scalable solution that met their complex requirements. Our approach included:
- Technical Roadmap Development: Collaborating closely with the client to outline a clear and actionable plan.
- Backend Development: Creating a stateless backend with a suite of software modules to handle complex calculations and data processing.
- Deployment & Automation: Using Kubernetes and AWS EKS for scalable deployment, and CircleCI for continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD).
- Automated Testing: Implementing a fully automated testing suite with auto-generated test fixtures to ensure reliability and efficiency.
Throughout the project, we maintained consistent communication through weekly updates, ensuring complete alignment with the client’s evolving needs.
The Impact
The Impact: Driving Efficiency and Growth with Advanced Technology
The successful implementation of this solution not only addressed the client’s immediate challenges but also positioned them for future growth. Key outcomes included:
- Operational Excellence: The new system streamlined manufacturing processes, reducing inefficiencies and optimizing resource utilization. The introduction of sustainable DevOps and data practices ensured these improvements were long-lasting.
- Sustainable Practices: In addition to building the technical infrastructure, we prioritized empowering the client’s engineering and product teams with the knowledge and tools needed for sustainable success:
- DevOps Best Practices: We trained the client’s teams on sustainable and streamlined DevOps practices, including code release workflows and CI/CD. This training ensured that they could manage and scale their operations efficiently, with minimized manual intervention and reduced risk of errors during deployments.
- Development and Code Review Best Practices: Our experts provided in-depth training on development and code review best practices. This included structuring code for maintainability, ensuring consistency across the codebase, and implementing automated code reviews, which significantly reduced technical debt and enhanced collaboration among team members.
- Data Best Practices: We also focused on data management, guiding the client’s teams on best practices for data handling, storage, and processing. This not only improved data integrity and security but also enhanced their ability to derive actionable insights from their data.
- Extended Collaboration: Following the project’s success, our partnership expanded to include full-stack engineering and data science services, further accelerating the client’s business growth.
Ample’s team worked tirelessly to produce the outcome that we wanted. Their insights helped us significantly.
Ample’s team worked tirelessly to produce the outcome that we wanted. Their insights helped us significantly.