Bosch is piloting generative AI and foundation models in manufacturing. In initial projects in two Bosch plants in Germany, generative AI creates synthetic images in order to develop and scale AI solutions for optical inspection and optimize existing AI models.
Bosch expects that this will reduce the time needed for planning, launching, and ramping up AI applications from the current six to twelve months to just a few weeks. Following successful piloting, this service for generating synthetic data is to be offered to all Bosch locations.
“Nearly half of all Bosch plants are already using AI in their manufacturing operations. With the help of generative AI, we’re not only improving existing AI solutions, but we’re also laying the foundations for the optimum take-up of this future technology in our global manufacturing network”
says Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH.
Bosch pilot plants are already using AI in production scheduling, monitoring, and control. At the plant in Hildesheim, for example, AI-based data analysis has helped reduce cycle times during the production ramp-up of new lines by 15 percent. At the plant in Stuttgart-Feuerbach, new algorithms cut component-testing processes from three and a half to three minutes.
“With generative AI, we’re now taking the next step in the evolution of artificial intelligence and advancing modern manufacturing to a new level,” says Tanja Rueckert, member of the Bosch board of management and chief digital officer. In this process, Bosch can build on its own expertise: the software models for generative AI were developed by Bosch research and are now being implemented in the field by Bosch factories. One plant uses an AI method of synthetically generated images to reliably inspect welds of copper wires in electric motor production, while another focuses on the quality assurance of high-pressure pumps.
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