A comprehensive look at the factory of the future: artificial intelligence, blockchain, AR and 3D printing

From advanced robotics in R&D LABS to computer vision in warehouses, technology is reshaping every part of the manufacturing process.

Editor's note: New technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain have affected all aspects of economic life, and even the manufacturing industry, which is slow to accept new technologies, is also undergoing the process of being reshaped. How are new technologies affecting manufacturing? CB Insights has released a report that offers a comprehensive look at the factory of the future. The report details the application scenarios of the new technology in eight sectors of manufacturing, and gives the development of some companies that are working on it. This article was compiled by 36 Krypton, hoping to enlighten you in this era of industry change.

Lights-out manufacturing is a factory that operates autonomously and does not require a human presence. In such factories, the operation of the machines usually does not require lighting.

While it may sound futuristic, this type of factory has been around for 15 years.

Most famously, Japanese robot maker FANUC has been operating a "lights-out" factory since 2001, where machines build robots without supervision for a production cycle that takes a month.

"It wasn't just lights out," said Gary Zywiol, a FANUC vice president. "We turned off the air conditioning and the heat."

One need only look at today's most ambitious and high-tech factories to imagine a world where robots do all the manual labor.

For example, Changying Precision Technology, a Dongguan-based maker of mobile phone parts, has created an unmanned factory.

Everything in the factory - from machining equipment to unmanned delivery trucks to warehouse equipment - is operated by computer-controlled robots. Technicians monitor the activity of these machines through a central control system.

At one time, Changying needed about 650 workers to keep the factory running. It is now down to 60 workers. The company's general manager says the goal is to reduce the number of workers to 20.

With the increasing popularity of industrial technology, this wave of automation and digitalization is called "Industry 4.0," just like the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

So what does the future of factories look like?

To answer this question, we delved into 8 different steps in the manufacturing process to understand how they begin to change:

Product development: how platforms are democratizing R&D talent; How artificial intelligence is helping materials science; And how to construct sketches with AR/VR.

Resource planning and procurement: On-demand decentralized manufacturing and blockchain projects are studying the complexities of integrating suppliers.

Operational Technology: Monitoring and machine data: A look at the IT stacks and platforms powering the factories of the future. First, factories will be largely digitized, and we'll also see greater predictive power.

Workforce enhancement and management: AR, wearables, and exosuits are augmenting human capabilities in the factory.

Processing, production and assembly: Modular equipment and custom machines, such as 3D printers, enable manufacturers to handle more diverse needs.

Quality Assurance: how computer vision will spot defects, and how software and blockchain technology will spot problems faster (and implement recalls).

Warehousing: With the help of robotics and visual tracking, in between unmanned factories, there will be "lights-out" warehouses.

Transportation and supply chain management: Telematics, the Internet of Things and driverless vehicles will bring greater efficiency to manufacturers in delivering products.

Manufacturers predict that over the next five years, overall efficiency will increase seven times faster than it has since 1990. Although manufacturing accounts for 11.7 percent of U.S. GDP and employs 8.5 percent of Americans, it's still a relatively low-digitized sector, meaning there's plenty of room for automation and software-driven development.

With the development of new technologies, the manufacturing industry is undergoing a major transformation, and almost every manufacturing vertical - from the automotive industry to the electronics industry to the pharmaceutical industry - will be affected. Timelines and technologies will vary from industry to industry, but most steps will change in almost every vertical.