Artificial intelligence is a Special Power
Common maintenance items lend themselves well to utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically identify and classify anomalies. Since computers never get tired or bored, they are more effective at identifying the issue, but more importantly, they reduce the time from issue identification to the ultimate fix.
A great example of this in action is woodpecker holes. AI can automatically identify a woodpecker hole vs. a bolt, but also the size and location of the hole, resulting in an assessment of the risk profile to the structure. Don’t have woodpecker holes as an issue? Imagine any common maintenance item like the ones mentioned above and it can be detected by AI.
The Benefits of Employing AI
• Applying a consistent standard across all anomalies improves the
accuracy of issue identification.
• Visualizing work creates a streamlined resource deployment process.
• Provides decision-makers with the ability to buy-down risk based on
accurate and timely data of the condition of their fixed assets.
• Reduces customer interruptions for repairs that may not be needed.
• Crews performing inspections have a reduced exposure to safety
hazards while performing inspections work.
• By improving the efficiency of identifying anomalies and deploying
crews, inspections can be done more frequently, leading to a more
reliable and safer network.