IIC Journal of Innovation 11th Edition | Page 34

Bridging the Artificial Intelligence Skills Gap in the Machine Manufacturing Industry (improved competence development through job market analysis). One concrete example was PONSSE Plc’s field project, which focused on after-sales services, especially field maintenance of the harvesting equipment where Machine Learning was to be used to recognize the needed oil change interval. Hydraulic oil and filters are currently changed at fixed intervals, approximately every 1800 hours, and optimized change interval would mean remarkable savings. Machine Learning Academy events will be organized also in the future. Recommendations on how companies, academia and governments can take positive steps to address: Develop a customized curriculum for your industry Instead of trying to compete generally in AI with leading tech companies such as Google, we recommend becoming a leading AI company in your industry sector where developing unique AI capabilities will allow you to gain a competitive advantage. How AI affects your company’s strategy will be industry, company and situation- specific. Machine Learning Academy lasts about three calendar months, and the planned total effort for participants, including the project work, is 100 working hours. Feedback and experience from the first two MLA courses suggest that this is enough to achieve the planned learning targets, depending on the participants’ ability to study on top of their daily duties. Also, the course project seems to be a good way to make the learning more concrete and get commitment from various stakeholders. Focus on educating the whole company personnel Rather than establishing separate AI units within the organization, we recommend that AI competencies and understanding should be increased at all levels – from the management level to the shop floor. The same principle applies on the society level. C ONCLUSIONS This paper has discussed the current skills gap in machine learning adoption and relevance of the Machine Learning Academy, its benefits and the implications for the manufacturing and machine building industries. Although the skills gap is likely to remain for the foreseeable future, there is clear need for tailored Machine Learning Academy types of programs to help companies develop their employees to the right direction with desired skills and encourage them to start experimenting with AI. With the positive feedback received from Academy participants, it has been decided that IIC Journal of Innovation AI training should encourage concrete pilots and use cases Build AI training curriculums that encourage concrete pilots and use cases. This helps to turn AI concepts into practical value. Reform existing public education. Explore opportunities to establish an AI education voucher or an education account which would stimulate functioning adult education markets. - 30 -