Latest news with #GerdWalker
Forbes
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
Audi Is Quietly Building The Most Advanced AI Factory In The Auto Industry
'IRIS' uses cameras to check if labels showing technical information are applied to the vehicle ... More correctly While many automotive AI headlines focus on self-driving cars or flashy infotainment upgrades, Audi is quietly building something more foundational: AI that runs the factory floor. In a June 2 briefing, the German automaker revealed that more than 100 AI projects are now in operation or development across its global production network. These systems are doing real work from inspecting welds and predicting equipment failures to optimizing logistics and assisting human workers in tasks that range from parts flow to process simulation. 'Artificial intelligence is the game changer in our industry,' said Gerd Walker, Audi's Board Member for Production and Logistics. 'By using it in a targeted way, we are creating a production environment that is not only more efficient and cost-effective but that also meets the highest quality standards.' Audi shares that these AI projects aren't just limited pilots or technology-focused proofs-of-concept. Instead, Audi has implemented AI across its factories to guide decision-making and production at scale. What makes Audi's approach to AI stand out is how deeply it's embedded. Most manufacturers have tested AI in narrow contexts, such as visual inspections, coordination of robotic assembly, supply chain forecasting, or predictive analytics. Audi is pushing past those point use cases, creating a more full-stack approach to AI in the production environment that can adapt dynamically. Its computer vision systems now inspect surface finishes and structural welds with high degrees of consistency and accuracy. Its 'Weld Splatter Detection' (WSD) application uses AI to detect possible weld splatter on vehicle underbodies and its IRIS tool uses computer vision-powered cameras to verify whether labels with the correct technical data in the right language are correctly attached to the vehicle Generative AI models simulate factory layouts and help plan production changes before implementation. Predictive maintenance tools, trained on petabytes of machine and sensor data, flag potential issues days or weeks before they become problems. The company's 'Tender Toucan' tool analyzes bids as part of its procurement process, using specifications to create a list of requirements, then using that information to search for the relevant sections in the bids, and evaluates the degree to which they are fulfilled. Employees have reported time savings of up to 30 percent. Even though AI technology gets the attention, the real breakthrough at Audi is data utilization. Audi's plants generate staggering volumes of data daily, with multiple petabytes across sensors, robotics, and logistics systems. Rather than treat this as digital exhaust that ends up unused in the organization's data 'swamp', Audi uses it to train machine learning models that constantly refine how production is run. In some facilities, these models have helped cut unplanned machine downtime by nearly 30%. In others, they're shortening assembly time by fine-tuning when and how components arrive at specific stations. 'Artificial intelligence enables us to make more extensive use of our enormous wealth of data in production and accelerates the journey of our 360factory towards becoming a data-driven factory,' said Walker. Audi shares that the 360factory is the company's production strategy for fully connected, innovative, and sustainable manufacturing. Audi's push reflects a bigger transition in how manufacturers view production. Rather than see factories as fixed systems with rigid processes, companies like Audi are turning them into adaptive environments, more like living systems than static machines. AI is helping these manufacturers handle disruptions in supply chains, reconfigure workflows faster, and plan for increasingly customized vehicle production runs, especially in a more challenging global political and economic environment. Other carmakers are moving in this direction. Porsche has deployed AI to monitor welding quality in Leipzig. BMW has extended AI to final inspection steps. Tesla has integrated AI into robot programming and vision systems. Few have gone as far as Audi in weaving AI into the full production lifecycle, but clearly that is the direction the industry is heading. Most corporate AI deployments today fall into a predictable pattern: one tool for one job. Audi's strategy shows what happens when AI becomes part of the operating fabric. That distinction matters. It suggests a future in which AI doesn't just 'assist', but rather it becomes the connective tissue linking systems, people, and decisions. Think less about dashboards and more about real-time optimization happening invisibly behind the scenes. This approach also reflects a shift in AI maturity. The conversation is moving from capability to utility. Companies like Audi are proving that what matters most now isn't what AI can do, but what it can do to change the way an organization operates.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Broadcom Teams with Audi to Deliver Next-Generation IT-Based Factory Automation Powered by VMware Cloud Software
VMware Cloud Foundation helps Audi Modernize IT on the factory floor while reducing cost, complexity and environmental impact PALO ALTO, Calif., March 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) today announced that Audi's Edge Cloud 4 Production (EC4P) initiative, powered by VMware Cloud software, is now live with the first virtual programmable logic controller (vPLC) at the Boellinger Hoefe plant in Germany where Audi manufactures the electric Audi e-tron GT car. As part of the EC4P initiative, the VMware Cloud Foundation® (VCF) private cloud platform helps Audi centralize the management and maintenance of dedicated industrial PC devices located on the factory floor, simplify security patching and risk management, and reduce environmental impact through the use of less hardware and fewer manual operations. With EC4P, Audi is delivering smart manufacturing by bringing software-defined factory automation to the shop floor and bridging the gap between IT and OT. The initiative includes close partnership between key technology partners including Broadcom, Cisco and Siemens. 'The use of virtual programmable logic controllers in the body shop is an important productivity leap in our 360factory strategy for efficient and data-driven manufacturing,' said Audi Board Member for Production Gerd Walker. 'We want to bring the local cloud for production to all plants and leverage advances in digital control systems in the process.' 'The collaboration between Audi and Broadcom is core to building a manufacturing future that is more efficient, cost-effective and secure,' said Sven Müller, project lead for EC4P at Audi. 'Through our work together, we're setting new standards for precision, customization, and environmental sustainability. EC4P will reduce our hardware footprint, replacing thousands of decentralized industrial PCs with a more efficient, scalable and flexible architecture of local edge servers that unites the cloud and the edge on the shop floor.' Transforming IT-based Factory Automation with a Private Cloud Platform Audi deployed VMware Cloud Foundation to create a private cloud environment outside of the Boellinger Hoefe manufacturing plant where critical shop floor workloads are hosted and managed centrally. Some examples include: Virtual Worker Stations (Virtual Desktops): Instead of maintaining physical industrial PCs for running thousands of 'worker stations' across the factory, these can now be run as virtual machines (VM) on VMware Cloud Foundation outside of the actual plant. Software and operating system updates can be done as a parallel operation instead of forcing them into the short shift changeover times. If a worker station VM has issues, it can quickly be replaced remotely. Virtual Programmable Logic Controllers (vPLCs): Virtual Programmable Logic Controllers (vPLCs) are used to control robots that manufacture different parts of the cars. A vPLC workload can be installed as a VM or even container and be managed similarly to IT-based cloud infrastructure. Configuration updates, security patches and feature updates can be made from Audi's private cloud. Building on EC4P, upcoming use cases may include AI-driven production, data analytics and computer vision applications for Audi. With VMware Cloud Foundation, Audi aims to achieve the following benefits at Boellinger Hoefe: Infrastructure standardization through one private cloud platform for all applications on the shop floor. Faster updates and deployments through improved efficiency with faster application deployment, automated updates and maintenance. Better agility and scalability through cloud infrastructure that makes it easier and faster to reconfigure a production line to accommodate a product mix change, and scale compute and storage infrastructure easily and independently. Reduced costs through a smaller hardware footprint, less hardware maintenance, and centralized software and operating system updates. Lower environmental impact through a smaller hardware footprint that generates less heat, consumes less power, and results in less e-waste. Enhanced security and resilience through automated and centralized patching at scale and use of immutable snapshots in the event of an attack or breach enable fast roll back to the last known good state, minimizing interruption to the production line. Less downtime through intelligent workload and network telemetry can proactively flag, diagnose and remediate issues and automated updates during planned maintenance windows. 'As Audi seeks to take factory automation to the next level and benefit from a scalable infrastructure at its factories worldwide, VMware Cloud Foundation will enable the replacement of industrial PCs and specialty hardware on the shop floor with general purpose servers running consistent VMware cloud infrastructure software,' said Paul Turner, vice president of products, VMware Cloud Foundation Division at Broadcom. 'VCF provides a consistent and scalable way for Audi to operate a distributed edge infrastructure, manage resources more efficiently, and lower operations costs. Ultimately, VCF will help Audi increase factory uptime, agility, and the speed of rolling out new applications and tools across the production line.' About Broadcom Broadcom Inc. (Nasdaq: AVGO) is a global technology leader that designs, develops, and supplies a broad range of semiconductor, enterprise software and security solutions. Broadcom's category-leading product portfolio serves critical markets including cloud, data center, networking, broadband, wireless, storage, industrial, and enterprise software. Our solutions include service provider and enterprise networking and storage, mobile device and broadband connectivity, mainframe, cybersecurity, and private and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Broadcom is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. For more information, go to Media ContactsRoger T. FortierVCF Division, Pauline ChayEMEA Communications,
