Digital Transformation in Steel Inspection
Mindset Focus Changed from Product Function oriented to Product Usage oriented
Revenue Stream Changed from NRE and fixed purchase to As-A-Service
Solution Focus
Changed from performance-focused , hardware-oriented solutions to userfocused products and services
Business Opportunities Changed from highly customized integrations to modular services that can be adapted to specific customer needs
From Toshiba ’ s perspective , the use of Data Management techniques , AI for image recognition , and Cloud Computing resources allowed the key product functional concerns to be addressed .
By proving the value of the AI image estimation and data auditing , the customer became receptive to providing customer data as part of a subscription contract . This in turn allowed a new set of services , based on training the customer ’ s inspectors , to be realized .
Because the AI imaging service found success in a real word scenario , the value of similar business opportunities was recognized . Image inspection is highly relevant to other manufacturing applications , and new image inspection services can be provided to customers with similar needs .
Customer Perspective
Data Integrity
Workload Efficiency
The data integrity is assured by storing in a secure database which eliminates data fraud .
Inspectors can focus on the more difficult inspection samples and train junior inspectors .
Continuous Improvement The AI Model can be improved over time , providing continuous improvement .
Skills Transfer and Training
Once the AI model training is complete , it is used for not just inspection , but also used for junior inspector education , which enables improved transfer of skills to the next generation
From the customer ’ s perspective , the key objectives of productivity and data integrity were fully satisfied . Inspectors were able to focus more time on difficult inspections as well as training for junior inspectors . The AI modeling service can be trained over time to adapt to different types
IIC Journal of Innovation 81