Kickstart: AI and Industry 4.0

Artificial intelligence has been getting a lot of attention for use in creative applications such as photos, videos and writing. (Although as we've mentioned in the past, PN isn't a big fan of using AI to replace human reporters.)

But for the plastics industry, AI may be the logical next step in Industry 4.0 — able to not only take over repetitive tasks like those performed by collaborative robots but also learn as it does those tasks and improve production. So rather than reprogramming a cobot to add a task, the cobot can learn the task itself. Or it can learn when to contact a human.

Here are a few examples of AI and manufacturing from just the past few weeks:

• Materials supplier Alterra Holdings LLC uses AI in combination with cameras, scales and sensors to track moisture level in resins and make adjustments as needed to meet customer requirements.

• Metaspectral, a Vancouver company, has targeted its AI software to improve recycling collection through improved sorting of plastics.

• Tristar AI Inc., a software company created by the son of a film manufacturer, combines its technology with camera footage and algorithms to analyze human behaviors then alert plant operators to maintenance needs, missed tasks and production interruptions.

"This is a new type of AI that helps supervisors keep track of what's happening on the factory floor," Tristar AI CEO Salem Karani told PN's Catherine Kavanaugh.

There's a lot that's bad about social media and obviously a lot of controversy involving it, too. But it remains a great way to keep in touch with family and friends and communicate with your community.

Some plastics firms have embraced social media to reach out to potential customers via LinkedIn, inform neighbors on Facebook about an open house event, keep in contact with political representatives or just have fun with employees.

Rotomolder Redline Plastics in Manitowoc, Wis., features its employees on its TikTok channel showing their dance moves and basketball skills and discussing the value of cheese curds. (The company was a finalist for PN's Processor of the Year and won the PN Excellence Award for Employee Relations.)

Later this month, PN will run its annual report highlighting some of the top social media accounts in the plastics industry to follow. If you know of a plastics company with a strong social media presence, then please fill in this survey at www.plasticsnews.com/social.

When is throwing your recycling across the lawn a good thing? When it's a flying disc made of plastics you collected, washed, sorted and converted at the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Polymer Science and Engineering.

Tristan Clemons, assistant professor at the school, said the best way to educate students about the value of sustainability is "The Flying Disc Approach to Recycling."

The program is part of an outreach program to Sumrall High School, USM said in a recent post on its website. Students learn the principles of plastic recycling through dealing with their own plastic waste.

The Mississippi Polymer Institute at the university's Hattiesburg campus provided recycling shredders and molding equipment for the program.