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At IBM’s Unlocking Value with AI event in Montreal, Micheline Ricci, Partner, IBM Consulting Canada, sat down with Martin Constant, Vice-President Shared Services, Cascades to discuss the company's journey with artificial intelligence (AI). As a pioneer in the industry, Cascades has been leveraging AI to drive operational efficiency, knowledge retention, and more. Martin's role at Cascades has given him a unique perspective on the advantages and challenges of implementing AI in the manufacturing sector.

The Drive to Adopt AI

Martin, a 31-year veteran of Cascades, emphasized that AI has been around for years, but its acceleration over the past two years has been remarkable. For Cascades, the primary objective was to stay ahead of the competition in North America leveraging operational efficiency. By adopting AI, Cascades aimed to enable employees to be more efficient, proactive, and focused on delivering high-quality service to internal and external clients.

Advantages of AI in the Industry

Martin highlighted the benefits of AI in the manufacturing sector, particularly in reducing administrative repetitive tasks. By automating these tasks, employees can focus on more value-added activities, leading to increased efficiency and productivity. AI also enables better support for employees, allowing them to make more informed decisions and provide superior service to clients.

Implementing watsonx and Watson Discovery

Cascades' implementation of watsonx and Watson Discovery was a long journey, but one that has paid off. The company started by identifying areas where AI could add value, focusing on tasks that were not adding value to certain teams. The goal was to create conversational virtual agent that could retain employees' knowledge and provide real-time access to information across the organization. Martin emphasized the importance of exploring technologies that can collect and validate information, ensuring that the data is trusted and precise.

The Future of AI

Martin expressed excitement about the future of AI and its potential to transform the manufacturing sector. He offered three essential pieces of advice for companies embarking on their AI journey:

1. Data Management: Accelerate data management, ensure better quality data, and make it available in real-time.

2. Change Management: Manage employees' emotions and educate them on the benefits of AI that can help them be more efficient and enable them to contribute to the company's growth.

3. Expectation Management: Manage management's expectations by focusing on the foundation of AI implementation, including right data, right people, and right use cases. Ensure that AI initiatives align with the company's objectives.

Martin's conversation emphasized the importance of exploring AI technologies, adopting them, and integrating them into existing systems. As Martin aptly put it, "We have to start somewhere. These technologies are there to stay."