The pace of technological change is not slowing down – far from it – and we are on the threshold of yet more innovation, more gains in productivity, and more automation in how we run and monitor industrial production.
Last November (’22) the tech world was blown off its feet with the release of ChatGPT-3, the language model by OpenAI. This new technology provided us with a glimpse into the future. Every tech firm out there is currently researching use cases of this new technology and AI in general. And although AI is not entirely new for manufacturing, we’re still in the very early days. With the power that OpenAI showed with their GPT-3 model, AI and machine learning will really make a dent in the manufacturing operation software landscape in 2023 and 2024.
Challenges
The main challenge in adopting this new technology is not necessarily on the software development end. Many of the bright ivy league graduates are very keen to bring this fundamental AI technology to customer facing products. The big challenge is the shortage of staff with the system integrators and in-house IT departments within manufacturing. If nothing changes, we end up with a ton of very exciting tools that can change the world, and at the same time, factories that still won’t benefit from this new technological wave as they cannot find the resources to deploy this technology.
Enter low-code and no-code software
This scarcity of IT personnel is why no-code and low-code platforms have gained such incredible traction over the past year. Low-code allows developers to create new applications four or five times faster than traditional DevOp builds. No-code opens up a world of possibility for business users or so-called “citizen developers” to extend or adapt the functionality of software tools without writing a line of code or having an IT background.
When IT vendors embed the new technological wave in self-service platforms that are both powerful and intuitive enough to be implemented and maintained by the operational factory teams, we have a decent answer to this challenge.
Impact of no-code on quality management of the future
Without going into details, there is a common understanding in the industry that Quality Management is transforming. It migrates from an “after the fact” cost center to a strategic differentiator. All the geopolitics and resulting supply chain issues we have seen in recent years are supercharging this trend. This strategic shift combined with the adoption of new technologies is typically referred to as Quality 4.0.
No-code eQMS solutions will allow Quality managers and their teams to implement and adapt their quality systems independently of the eQMS vendor or their overstretched IT teams. This allows them to make their quality operation more flexible and agile. Given all the dynamics in the quality management field these days, this helps quality leaders to transform their quality operation into the strategic differentiator they are after.
New no-code features in this development cycle
In this current development cycle, the AlisQI product team will focus on the no-code topic. Why should manufacturers consider a no-code QMS? What are their main fears regarding no-code? And what’s next on the AlisQI agenda? Stay tuned.
