How Quality and Innovation Roles are Changing in Data-Rich Manufacturing Environments w/ Daniel First

Engineering & simulationAxioncutting the time to solve a product issue from 300-400 days by an average of 50%

AI agents detect, investigate, and solve product issues by triangulating customer feedback, service reports, and device telemetry to identify root causes and suggest engineering changes.

“if solving a product issue can take, for some of our customers, 300 to 400 days, what we're seeing is that the organizations that are really at the forefront are probably able to cut that on average by 50…”

Engineering & simulationAxion

AI identified that vacuum cleaner jams were caused by pet hair rather than flooring type, preventing engineering from pursuing an incorrect and expensive fix.

“It turns out the AI flag that actually had nothing to do with the flooring type. It was actually a pet hair issue. And so people had pets, the hair would jam.”

Sourcing & supply chainAxion

AI analysis of supplier nonconformance data revealed that suppliers who reported fewer issues were actually less competent, correcting the manufacturer's supplier selection metrics.

“It turns out that the suppliers that notified them about nonconformances least frequently were suppliers who didn't really know what was going on. And those issues were then bursting through during the manufacturing process out in the field.”