Identification of Use Cases for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Production

It is imperative that manufacturing companies enhance their capacity for constant change and adaptation. In particular, the ability to adopt new technologies and adapt them to the physical conditions of complex production chains represents a significant challenge. The advent of generative AI, a term encompassing AI-based technologies adept at creating multimodal content, presents a novel opportunity for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies to enhance their competitive edge. Although use cases for discriminative AI are reaching technological maturity in manufacturing applications, the extent to which generative models can be applied in practice remains unclear. This paper presents a method for a systematic identification of generative AI use cases in production. Therefore, a characteristics and capability profile for generative AI is presented and matched with a literature-based investigation of the challenges inherent to production. Lastly, the defined types are analysed regarding their feasibility for implementation in production systems.