Technology
PUBLISHED
Engineers have no shortage of problems to solve in an increasingly complex manufacturing world. But what if they didn’t have to start from scratch every time?
Across the manufacturing industry, incredible amounts of accumulated human expertise, insight, and know-how are often scattered across different individuals, systems, or teams. At any point, the information needed to overcome a problem may be sitting on someone’s desk, in their personal notebook, or locked in their head.
But what if there was a way to bring together the knowledge accumulated over decades – all the experience of engineers, technical documents, software, factory floors, and systems – to empower decision-makers when it’s needed? In short, if engineers can start with more of what we already know, they can focus on something much more important: what we don’t know.
Such a development would come at a good time. The introduction of advanced tools, such as 3D printing, smart automation, and artificial intelligence (AI), has fundamentally transformed how manufacturing works, requiring companies to constantly upgrade both software and hardware to remain competitive, while also having to navigate convoluted and shifting international trade networks and a retiring workforce.
Emerging AI technologies add a new dimension to this. Swedish multinational engineering company Sandvik, for instance, is exploring how engineers can use these technologies to navigate huge amounts of data, access relevant expertise, and identify connections that would otherwise be difficult to find. In other words, these tools can help engineers put more of the knowledge that already exists to work.
And there is no shortage of challenges to be addressed. What if engineers could spend less time working on problems that have already been solved, and more time addressing the ones that haven’t, such as how to drastically lower production waste? How to build things that require fewer scarce materials or consume less energy? How to make existing expensive technologies more available at scale? Or perhaps they could create something new that’s never been imagined before.
Knowledge grows when it’s shared
At Sandvik, this idea is already being put into practice through AI tools designed specifically for manufacturing, to make human expertise and existing knowledge more accessible. These technologies focus on industrial processes, seeking to optimize heavy machinery systems, speed up complex data analysis, and streamline production. To this end, they are not replacing human thought but rather augmenting it by allowing easier access to know-how that already exists.
One example of this is Manufacturing Copilots developed by Sandvik, AI-powered assistants that offer engineers simpler ways to engage with specialized knowledge, allowing them to ask questions in natural language and get step-by-step guidance based on specialized manufacturing knowledge.
Importantly, this support doesn’t remove human agency; it allows engineers to find solutions faster so they can spend more time on problems that matter. That is the real promise of these intelligent technologies for manufacturing – to offer people a stronger starting point.
This potential is creatively illustrated by the new campaign from Sandvik, “the Brains”, showing people with enormous brains bringing to light this invisible asset: collective intelligence.
The oversized brains represent the combined expertise of Sandvik, its customers, and partners, and the idea that knowledge becomes more valuable when it is shared and adapted.
“The future of manufacturing will be built on more than data or technology alone,” Edvard Bergström, Vice President Corporate Communications Sandvik Group, explained in a statement.
“The Brains campaign shows what becomes possible when people, engineering knowledge and intelligent technology come together. Technology can help connect and scale expertise, but people are the ones who turn it into better decisions, new ideas and more sustainable innovation.”
Every engineer builds on knowledge created by someone before them. The more of that accumulated expertise we can connect, across people, systems, technologies, and generations, the less time we spend rediscovering what is already known. The next step, the unexpected connection, the unimagined innovation, still depends on human creativity and judgment.
That is the idea behind “the Brains”: not to replace human intelligence, but to strengthen it by giving people more knowledge to build on.
Because knowledge grows when it's shared.
Learn more about Sandvik here.
This article is an advert and includes sponsored material. Read our transparency policy for more information.
1
