- Global vision-care leader Alcon uses industrial AI to enhance its manufacturing processes for products that improve eyesight.
- Predictive analytics and AI tools optimize machine maintenance and production, reducing reliance on manual data analysis.
- Alcon is working with Siemens to improve manufacturing, employee upskilling, and inventory management.
More than 140 million people worldwide depend on contact lenses to see more clearly. But there's more to producing and delivering these solutions than meets the eye: One global vision-care giant is hard at work manufacturing commercial contact lenses, interocular lens implants, eyedrops, contact solutions, and other vision-care products that help patients improve their eyesight.
As the largest eye-care-device company in the world, Alcon makes hundreds of business decisions each day while running manufacturing operations across 17 global manufacturing sites at up to a 24/7 basis. The work is complex, with endless moving pieces. According to John Patanian, data analytics manager at Alcon Laboratories, integrating data and industrial AI into these complex manufacturing processes bolsters efficiency, resilience, and innovation. "Our manufacturing process is a high-volume activity," Patanian said. "In order to be able to do that in an efficient and cost-effective manner, we leverage a high level of optimization."
To harness the power of optimization, Alcon is working with Siemens, one of the world's largest providers of industrial automation, to deploy technologies that solve business challenges and optimize critical systems. Siemens' digital industry portfolio harnesses data insights to help businesses like Alcon propel their industrial process automation capabilities to new heights. Through this relationship, Alcon has found new ways to improve its operations and increase productivity.
"We're trying to capture some of the knowledge that exists only in people's heads and make it more widely available. We're trying to augment the experts and save them from wasting time looking for data."
Embracing the power of predictive maintenance
One of the most important tasks at Alcon, Patanian said, is ensuring the health of its machines. Alcon has tapped into a powerful way to do that through predictive analytics — combining data from the machines that run Alcon's production lines with contextual information from operators and maintenance personnel. Real-time data insights, including insight into trends and correlations in data that are difficult to detect manually, enable the company to plan and optimize machine maintenance activities so equipment can operate as frequently as needed to meet business targets.
Using Siemens Senseye Predictive Maintenance, manufacturers like Alcon can increase productivity, work more sustainably, and accelerate digital transformation. The platform builds on the expertise of skilled maintenance staff and allows for more productive and efficient problem-solving. With years of experience, these individuals are accustomed to listening to machines to detect potential problems. Combining this skilled expertise with insights gathered from deep-learning AI tools capable of identifying crucial patterns and trends, they no longer have to sift through endless piles of data.
"We're trying to capture some of the knowledge that exists only in people's heads and make it more widely available," Patanian said. "We're trying to augment the experts and save them from wasting time looking for data."
In practice, this could mean optimizing the production process by leveraging deep learning tools capable of conducting complex, in-line product inspections. If a product is rejected, the AI tool can pinpoint why and point to a corrective action. Without AI, the process could take days, with a subject matter expert poring over images and data to detect the problem.
"With the system we put in place, the information is immediately available," Patanian added.
An opportunity for upskilling and employee growth
AI and industrial optimization have also ushered in a welcome transformation in the skills and competencies of Alcon's workers. With many manufacturing processes now highly automated, this leaves the company's operations and maintenance teams to better leverage their time and skills.
"People are really hungry for data and information — and sometimes that will come from an AI tool, other times it's just making it easy for them to have the data at their fingertips so they can make a quick decision," Patanian said. "Otherwise, they might have made a less-than-optimal decision."
Across all areas of the business, Alcon sees its investments in AI and industrial software as an evolving journey. "People are using information in ways we never foresaw," Patanian said. "And using it to solve problems that perhaps weren't problems at the time we started collecting the data. It's become invaluable."
This post was created by Insider Studios with Siemens.
