Reshoring at Scale: Why Smart Manufacturers Choose Computer Vision

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was forced to confront a glaring weakness of global supply chains: they have little to no room for error. Consumers especially felt the consequences of this disruption. Long-distance shipping costs skyrocketed while lead times became longer. Stores and pharmacies ran critically low on inventory. Entire industries slowed to a crawl. The world learned that keeping crucial sectors moving during a crisis is not optional.

In recent years, companies have learned from this and are trending toward domestic manufacturing. But this brings its own set of challenges. Countries such as China and Vietnam historically have held an advantage in manufacturing due to their lower labor costs compared to other countries, particularly the United States. Some industries also demand a level of expertise that can be harder to find domestically. But with the advent of certain technologies, the playing field is leveling.

Advancements in automation, AI, and robotics offer unprecedented manufacturing advantages from more reliable quality inspections to automating repetitive tasks. This change does more than just improve manufacturing efficiency. It also frees up employees to focus on more human-centric tasks that AI can’t easily handle.

To explore the impact of automation further, let’s look at one specific technology that’s making an impact: computer vision.

Smarter Vision, Scaled for the Real World

The manufacturing industry has greatly benefited from rule-based vision systems since their early adoption in the late 1980s and 1990s. These systems work very well in highly controlled and consistent environments. However, most visual inspection applications that manufacturers want to automate don’t fall under this category. In contrast, Matroid offers a computer vision system powered by deep learning that can function more like the human brain. It learns patterns from real production data and can generalize to new, but similar, scenarios not explicitly included in its training data. Matroid computer vision can thrive in unstructured environments as unexpected situations inevitably arise on a manufacturing floor.

Scaling new technology is crucial for manufacturing companies to meet ROI goals and remain competitive on the global stage. Since Matroid is centralized, it makes widespread adoption across different departments and locations much easier and more cost-effective than traditional vision. Matroid can also work with any camera that provides the best images or video feed for the task. This flexibility on a centralized platform is crucial for manufacturers to avoid being locked into a specific hardware ecosystem, as different applications require different types of cameras.

Empowering Workers to Lead with Technology

Reshoring doesn’t just involve bringing factory jobs back domestically. Rather, reshoring also means transforming the nature of those jobs. Roles that once centered around repetitive manual tasks must be empowered to tackle bigger challenges. And of course, these expanded roles will also require workers to know how to use their new automated tools.

At Matroid, current manufacturing customers’ employees are tasked with building computer vision models using an intuitive, no-code interface designed for anyone to use. Matroid handles the repetitive visual inspections, freeing up workers to focus on interpretation, decision-making, and system improvement. The manufacturing industry will be driven forward by those who understand how to apply new technology to achieve results in the real world.

Keeping Up with an Increasingly Automated World

Reshoring manufacturing presents a significant opportunity for the global economy, but it won’t succeed by doing things the old way. The companies that will thrive are the ones that lean into change, adopt the right tools, and empower their teams with a forward-thinking vision. The Matroid platform, along with its team, serves the manufacturing industry to usher in a new era of more innovative and efficient production.

Automation, AI, and robotics in manufacturing are not obstacles. Rather, they are opportunities. And the sooner your company seizes these opportunities, the better. Get in touch with Matroid today to get started.

About the Author

Jack Sanborn works with manufacturing companies of all sizes to help them understand and adopt emerging technologies. He specializes in guiding businesses through the integration of advanced tools into real-world production environments. Jack is also passionate about following startups that are transforming industries and making the world a better place. Jack lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and in his free time, he enjoys lifting weights, cooking on his Blackstone griddle, training in jiu-jitsu, and mixing music with friends.